Good or bad words?

You can trust what your friend says, even when it hurts. But your enemies want to hurt you, even when they act nice. (Proverbs 27:6)

What does your closest friend say about you? It may not always be what you want to hear, but if they know Jesus, we can trust him to use their words on occasion. Those words may build us up at one time, but they can bring necessary conviction at others!

Do all the words we hear always bring us joy and great peace? Not hardly, as sometimes we need to hear the ones that sting just a bit. Why? We may not have been seeing things in the right light and need to have a bit more light shed on the matter. We may have been refusing to hear and just need someone to prod us to listen closer.

Our enemies, on the other hand, may sugar coat every word they say, happy to mislead us wherever they can. Whenever we choose to listen to their lies, we almost feel a little undone by those words. They eat at us and give us concerns we didn't know otherwise. We must be careful to embrace only wise words; words tempered by the Spirit of God.

Are the words of our friends always spot on? Not always, so we need to filter ALL words through the Holy Spirit and the wisdom he brings. Embrace truth, reject the rest, trusting him to know one from the other. Words are indeed powerful - like sticks and stones that may break one's bones. We may never fully appreciate their impact until we consider the impact of the Word of God.

Did it ever occur to you that God made a way for us to know him, experience healing, enjoy peace, and find comfort in times of distress through is written Word? His words, powerful and pure, given so we'd be able to look into them, experience their depth and insight, therein finding all we need to live our lives. If God knows the power of 'words', perhaps it is time we pay attention to ours. Just saying!