Kind words are like honey, sweet for the soul and healthy for the body.
Proverbs 16:24
My daughter Evie and I came across this scripture in proverbs this week and she was absolutely delighted with it. Naturally she thought of the words she speaks to her sisters and made an impromptu commitment to herself and God to try and speak only kindness that day.
When I pondered this scripture for myself, I came to another conclusion – yes our words encourage or hurt others, but they also are like honey for ourselves – for both our bodies and souls.
There’s nothing more delicious during a cold wintry day then some hot water with honey and lemon squeezed into it! It warms us body and soul! The words we speak to others also impact us, they can warm our chilly hearts or leave us feeling cold, miserable, angry, stressed out and full of regret. Left unchecked, they can manifest into poor health in our bodies and cause our souls to become downcast.
This is so true for my own personal journey. The conviction I have from the Spirit about the words which we speak is not coming from a haughty place, yet a humble place. The Spirit has worked His miracles in my life – powerfully convicting me of my sin and wrongdoing – yet leading me to freedom from venting, name calling and words which cause strive, fighting and harm.
I’m an imperfect person, I know this well, and in the natural the words expressed through the overflow of my heart are wicked – yet when in step with the spirit and having a renewed mind through God’s word, I’m empowered to speak those “honey” words despite my circumstances. After all, our circumstances simply reveal the true condition of our hearts. If we only speak kind words while things are going well for us, yet horrible words when life gets hard – this shows us what’s truly in our hearts.
So let’s ask ourselves, are we speaking life giving words to our spouse, children, friends, colleagues or even strangers? After an exhausting day of infinite tantrums, job loss or financial stress, perhaps another failed school day or constant internet outage during important meetings – what are our words revealing to us about our heart condition?
The Bible tells us to “guard our hearts above all else for it determines the course of our life” Proverbs 4:23. If we don’t tend to our hearts by being in the presence of our Lord through Bible reading and prayer, our lives cannot be transformed.
I want us as sisters-in-Christ, to be seeking wholeheartedly after the Lord – and to repent from our words which would be displeasing to the Lord.
Let us come together and be a source of life giving words, grace, compassion to a broken world where name calling, venting, strife and hate is all around us.
Let our Christian friendships be a safe place to share hurts, offences and life’s ups and downs without resorting to worldly name calling, unhealthy complaining and blame pointing. We are not victims of our circumstances, yet victorious in Jesus.
Lets Pray
Father God, we ask that your Holy Spirit empower us to speak honey words. Let our words reflect what’s in our hearts, hearts that are clean, pure and in alignment with you, our Lord. Let us seek forgiveness where it’s needed, offer forgiveness even when it’s not deserved, and commit to changing our earthly ways, so that when life is hard, and people are horrible – we can speak from our overflow with grace and love towards them and towards ourselves. Just as you lavishly pour grace upon grace into our lives Jesus, we ask you help us do the same to those around us.
Amen!
