Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21, NAS
I think this is a pretty familiar verse, particularly its warning that with our tongues we have the power to encourage or discourage, to build up or crush others' spirits. That's a heavy responsibility, and we tend to let our tongues wag pretty freely! The second half of the verse may be less familiar. While we have that power at the time we speak, but our words don't end there. If we use the tongue's power destructively, that power will bite us back! It might be the bitter fruit of crushing our children's spirits that will haunt us in their adult years. Or it might be that our tongues are so uncontrolled that we put down the wrong person, some one who is able to hurt us worse than our words hurt them. On the other hand, if we use the power of our tongue to build up others, God promises that we will eat that fruit as well. I think it safe to say that the fruit of a tongue that blesses will be much sweeter than that of a tongue that crushes!
I think this is a pretty familiar verse, particularly its warning that with our tongues we have the power to encourage or discourage, to build up or crush others' spirits. That's a heavy responsibility, and we tend to let our tongues wag pretty freely! The second half of the verse may be less familiar. While we have that power at the time we speak, but our words don't end there. If we use the tongue's power destructively, that power will bite us back! It might be the bitter fruit of crushing our children's spirits that will haunt us in their adult years. Or it might be that our tongues are so uncontrolled that we put down the wrong person, some one who is able to hurt us worse than our words hurt them. On the other hand, if we use the power of our tongue to build up others, God promises that we will eat that fruit as well. I think it safe to say that the fruit of a tongue that blesses will be much sweeter than that of a tongue that crushes!
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