The Power of Words

Today's message, in fact the whole topic, was hard for me. Sometimes messages seem practical, sometimes they seem like they offer us guidance, and sometimes they feel like shinning a spotlight on an area of brokenness. Today's message felt like the latter to me.

Words are important and powerful. They convey ideas that are important and powerful too. Sometimes I think it's easy to underestimate how much our words affect others. This is something I've begun to consider more over the last few years.

I had a friend and colleague when I was younger that use to say he'd cut another person so low they were playing handball with the curb. He had a great wit, was a quick thinker and had a low tolerance for people that he felt were his intellectual inferiors. Yes, it's fair to say I idolized him, and unfortunately I adopted some of his tendencies toward annoying people.

I carried that attitude into college. I once, and I'm not proud of this, sent a flame e-mail to a sports editor at a rival paper mocking her writing style. Did I mention I was at a Christian University and so was she. Not a proud moment.

I also used to carry on some of those tendencies to my writing. I once blasted the lunacy of the winter Olympics. In a normal year, that would be unpatriotic. In February of 2002, it rang out like a national insult. And I got the angry letters to prove it — including one from a member of the university's board. Again, not a proud moment.

I try to wait a beat before responding now — okay maybe several beats. I also have been working on making my language and response more edifying, especially when it comes to conversing with those that oppose my views.

There is a reason why personal attacks are considered the lowest form of debate and logic, because they are the response of the weak. It's easy to mock someone, it's hard to withstand blast after blast, remain calm, and articulate a point. I'd rather just mock someone. But what does that get us, particularly when we're representing Jesus Christ. And believe me, no matter whether you're talking about the weather, sports, pop culture, or current events, when people know you are a Christian, they view you as a representative of Jesus Christ. If that last statement stings a little, trust me, I feel your pain.

I've been trying to keep that in mind in my conversations now, particularly in the ones that get heated. I'm not where I should be yet, but like with so many other things in the Christian walk, it's a work in progress.