Your Words Matter

We get caught up in so many conversations that truthfully don’t really matter. Discussions about topics that in the moment seem urgent yet days, even hours later, appear trivial, fleeting.  The other day, while visiting with a friend, they made the comment, “Well, it is all just talk”—implying in that short, pithy statement there was no value in some conversations.

Concentrate on doing your best for God, work you won’t be ashamed of, laying out the truth plain and simple. Stay clear of pious talk that is only talk. —2 Timothy 2:15-16, MSG

I have grown up with the sense that words matter. I mean, I work in publishing. We carefully select and dissect words every day.
And now we live in an age where words are truncated to LOL or IMHO. What on earth?
Fred Rogers, the subject of a recent marvelous documentary, reached millions of children (now adults) through his show on public television. Each episode highlighted important words such as compassion, integrity, humility. It’s a known fact that he spent a deliberate amount of time working on the script, ensuring that every word was carefully chosen, knowing his audience would hear things literally. So attentive was Mister Rogers that his manner of speaking was known as “Freddish.”

I think there is a lesson there for us Christ-followers. Disciples should speak clearly and well. Timothy goes on to remind the reader, writing, “Words are not mere words, you know. If they’re not backed by a godly life, they accumulate as poison in the soul” (vv16-17). Wow. Words do matter!
By Don Pape, NavPress publisher. Learn more about Mr. Rogers here – https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2018/06/mr-rogers-neighborhood-talking-to-kids/562352/