Sticks and Stones will Break My Bones, and Words will Never Hurt Me

I.The Power of Words
a. Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
b. How many of you have ever been called a cruel name before? How many of you have called someone else a cruel name before? I know I have been on both ends of that spectrum. The phrase that I used as the title usually goes “sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” But I completely and totally disagree with that statement. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been hurt by people calling me words like “arrogant", “stupid”, and “worthless.”
c. It’s pretty hard to look at yourself as a prized creation of God when people are putting you down, isn’t it? Words hurt. Words stick with you. You remember bad things that people say for a long time; maybe even your whole life.
i. So if this is the case, then why do we say mean things to other people even when we know the pain it has caused us?
II. What Goes Around Comes Around
a. Matthew 12:36 “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment.”
i. This is a scary thought. Before reading this scripture, I would have never thought that the hurtful things I have said to people; out of pain, anger, or just spite are going to be accounted for by God Himself.
b. All those times you have badmouthed that girl you see flirting with all the boys, yelled at your parents and told them things out of anger, mocked someone because they were different because of you…they are being counted and you are going to have to own up to every last one.
c. Matthew 12:37 says “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
i. In a way this could be a victory. Like all those people who have called me names? They will feel someday the way they made me feel with all those hurtful things. In the same way, all the times I have called someone a “slut” or “idiot” are going to be placed before me and I am going to have to tell the almighty, just, and sovereign God why I felt the need to say those things to my friends, my enemies, and my loved ones.
III. Why Can’t We Be Friends?
a. If words are such a powerful thing, why do we need to use them to cause damage and to destroy people? Words are our weapons; we choose to use them to express everything in our hearts, minds, and thoughts. This may be a slightly nerdy reference, but words are kind of like “the force.” They are all around us, they are the very fiber of our existence with one another; and they can be used for good things, or they can become a part of the dark side, wreaking havoc and pain on those we choose to inflict them on.
b. As God's children, we need to look to the Lord as an example of how to use such a powerful tool.
i. Hebrews 11:13 shows us that “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.”
ii. Words are what created us. God’s words spoke us into existence. Without the good that the power of words can do, we would be nothing. We need to follow the example that Jesus Christ has set for us.
IV. Silence is Not the Enemy
a. “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” –Abraham Lincoln
i. There are some times when you should go by the rule, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”
ii. Sometimes silence can be the most helpful tool in keeping our witness, and can keep us from hurting the people we truly care about. If we learn to just say uplifting and positive things to each other more often and remain quiet and think before we speak badly about someone else, then the powerful tool that God has given us will be used a whole lot wiser.