Sticks and stones

Proverbs 10:21
The lips of the righteous feed many: but fools die for want of wisdom.

“Sticks and stones can break my bones, but names will never hurt me!” This may be the biggest lie we allow our children to tell. I’m sure we’ve all heard this saying before; I would hazard a guess that we’ve all said these words at some point in our lives. Is it a true statement? Ask any psychiatrist or psychologist and they’ll tell you that without a doubt, words can hurt you; they can kill you!

There’s a serious issue involving words that is affecting people of all ages: cyber-bullying. This is where one person or group goes on a social networking site to write bad, harassing, evil, and thoughtless things about someone else. This is done with the intention of hurting the other person. Now, if words can never hurt me, then why is this a problem? The truth is words do hurt. The result in a lot of these cyber-bullying cases is suicide by the victim. Words have an eternal impact on the lives of others. They have the potential to build someone up or completely tear them down, killing them.

As Christians, we have a responsibility to speak good things into the minds of those around us. We have the power, in our mouths, to build up the mind and spirit of others. Likewise, we have the power in our mouths to tear down and destroy others. We should be speaking righteousness to everyone we encounter.

I know what you’re thinking: I don’t say or post hurtful things to other people; I’m a good Christian. I don’t doubt that for one minute, but what are you saying? Are the words of your mouth feeding the listener?

We get caught up sometimes in the do’s and don’ts of Christian living. We teach rules and regulations, but these things do not bring righteousness, nor does living life by these rules make one righteous (Galatians 3:11, Romans 3:20). When we teach these rules, this “right” way of living, we are giving strength back to sin (1 Corinthians 15:56) and as a result, killing people (Romans 6:23) with our words. We become holy-bullies when we teach and speak this way.

The truth is that only by the blood of Jesus Christ are we made righteous and only by teaching Him to others do we impart righteousness in their lives. Christ said He is the bread of life (John 6:35); it is up to us to serve Him to people. All of Proverbs 8 describes Christ as wisdom. When we teach rules, regulations, and law to people we are denying them of the Bread of life and leaving their spiritual souls unsatisfied. They are dying for want of Wisdom!

We are the righteous because we have been given, by grace, Christ’s righteousness in a holy exchange (2 Corinthians 5:21). Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17) and faith in Jesus Christ is what makes us righteous (Romans 1:17). Let’s get out there and feed the world with the Word of Wisdom that is Jesus Christ.