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The word thrown can hurt, both those who receive it and those who say it. It is capable of dirtying our spirit. But it can also positively transform places and hearts.
It is capable of hurting and healing. But what have your words done? Do you understand how important they are?
Artificial world
“Sin is not ended by multiplying words, but the prudent hold their tongues.”
Since I was a child, I was taught that we should control what we say, that this is part of self-control. It’s something difficult to do in moments of great emotions (good or bad), because at the time the feeling ends up taking over us, if we’re not focused. And we end up losing control of what comes out of our mouths.
We are in a technological era full of different functionalities. We can communicate with someone miles and miles away as if we were right next to each other.
This facilitates and unites, but if we don’t know how to balance the use of technology, we easily lose control in our real lives.
Power of the word
“From the fruit of their mouth a person’s stomach is filled. With the harvest of their lips they are satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Proverbs 18:20-21
Previously, we could just delete a message, canceling its sending to the recipient. Recently, we have received updates to messaging apps that give us the right to edit messages.
These details make all the difference in our day-to-day lives when we send wrong messages or realize that we have gone too far in one of them. But how much is this capable of interfering in our lives?
It sounds silly, but we are daily inserted in a reality where we can say whatever we want, without controlling it. And so, we edit and delete when it suits us, without realizing that the possibility of deleting messages makes us lose track of the weight of the words we say.
In real life, talking to someone face to face, everything we say cannot be canceled. There is no time to delete before the person hears or edit when we express ourselves rudely. We need to remind ourselves daily of the power that our word has, both in our lives and when ministering to someone else.
Speak from the heart
“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.”
Matthew 15:18
This verse shows us the balance we need to find in this world full of information. We cannot allow social networks to interfere with our real actions and relationships. It would be nice to be able to cancel words and actions, go back when we make mistakes and correct our mistakes to avoid hurting someone as much as possible, but that is not possible.
Everything that comes out of our mouth and all our actions contaminate us. However, they also build us up when done right.
Our heart is the source of all we are, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Our mouth speaks based on what is in our heart. If we are in a place of pain, hurt, anger, we will reflect this to others and end up intensifying this bad feeling within us.
We need to take care of our heart and our feelings to ensure self-control, controlling what we do and say, so as not to hurt the people around us. When our heart is in God, we find peace, gentleness and love, reflecting this in our speech and actions, intensifying good feelings within us.
Don’t forget the power your words have over you and other people. Seek to build through them and reflect the love of Jesus.
by
Rapha Abreu is a journalist and cultural producer, and part of the marketing, writing and content production team at Mr. Rocco.
