decide to be honest...

how powerful are words? the bible says that GOD created the world with the word. that’s how powerful words are.

yet in the book of james in the new testament in chapter 2, james reminds us that we have a tough time with our tongues sometimes. he says if anybody can speak perfectly all the time, they’re a perfect person. he said that our tongue is like a restless evil. it’s full of poison. later in the book he says, “out of this same mouth come blessings and cursings.” we’ve all faced that.

so the question is, how do i use these words to build people rather than tear people down?

counselor, gary chapman, said this about communication: “communication is basically an act of the will.” i’ve got to decide some things and JESUS shows us the way. what can i decide to do this week to build people with my words?

one thing i can do is i can decide to be honest.

proverbs 24.26 (ms), an honest answer is like a warm hug.

yet many of us relate more to this quote: “the secret of life is honesty in fair dealing. if you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” that’s not proverbs. that’s groucho marx. we relate to that, though. it’s tough to be honest sometimes.

but JESUS was honest in his communication. HE didn’t talk so much about honesty as HE practiced honesty. HE spoke with honesty in all of his relationships.

ephesians 4.15 (niv) in the new testament tells us how that honesty is balanced in our lives. speaking the truth in love. you balance truth and love. it takes both. you speak it in love.

there are some people who use truth like a missile. they don’t tell you the truth. they aim it at you. we’ve all discovered that. that’s not what this is talking about.

there are other people who are just thoughtless. that can also hurt people. they’re just thoughtless with what they say. they say things like, “you do well for your age.” or “i can’t believe you did such a good job!” was that a compliment?

just a thought from the front porch…