Good Words Bad Words

"Yea, well damn her. She can go to hell", I overheard one of my co-workers say of a customer who didn't tip.

This phrase is such a common thing we say when angered or frustrated. But when he said it, this time, I heard it differently. I took what he said for face value and my heart asked, 'did he really mean that? Did he realize what he had just said? To damn her. To curse her. To Hell? Does he really want that for her?'

I felt sorry for the woman who had been cursed and I began to pray for her. And as I medicated later on the event, my heart started transforming. Words, I began to realize, are very important. And what we say aloud, should be said vey intentionally.

In the beginning there was the word. When God saw to create the earth, He began by speaking. He SAID, "let there be light".

God spoke. When a person is afflicted by demons, what is it that drives them out but the NAME of Jesus. The spoken WORD. Because words DO mean something. Words are powerful.

In Judaism, to know someone's name is to exhibit a power over them. It isn't just knowledge of the word, but the speaking of it that exerts power. This is why one does not utter the name of God.

This truth is reflected across cultures. Magicians have their incantations, VooDoo witch doctors have their spells, lawyers have their contracts, and the Muslims have the K'oran.

Because, somehow we all have realized that by speaking, we reflect our Creator who also speaks.

The children's song, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me" is a lie. Sticks and stones are physical and they hurt the physical. But words, words can not be felt in the physical sense, but rather, in the spiritual sense. Words don't hurt our bodies, they hurt our souls.

But they can also heal.
They can create.
They can restore and empower.

It is not what goes in the body, but what comes out that defiles it.

What we speak is a reflection of our hearts. What we say is a reflection of our souls. So we must guard our words and only speak what is good and true and edifying to the body of Christ.

Because we are what we speak.

What are you?
Or rather, Who do you want to be?