Have you ever thought much about how powerful your words can be? I am amazed at how much power one person can have and how they choose to use that power.
On Monday, a 30 minute video called Kony 2012 was released on youtube and by Thursday had 32 million hits. 32 million! That is unbelievable. This thing caught on like wildfire. My facebook and twitter accounts had numerous references to Kony which prompted me to go research it and find out for myself what it was all about. It is unspeakable what this man and his army have done but I’m not here to talk about that. What amazes me is the power that this one video had on the people. I was amazed by all of the people blindly reposting the video and retweeting the information because of this one video. I’m not saying that this isn’t a worthy cause, I’m withholding judgement until I have reviewed all the facts. We shouldn’t blindly follow someone or something just because it sounds good or seems like truth. The point I’m making is the amount of influence that this one video had in such a short period of time.
My second example of influence was also from this week. One of our family’s favorite shows is Survivor. We have watched every episode of every season starting with season two. I have never in all of those seasons seen one person with so much influence as this one particular man. This man convinced his entire tribe of 8 men to give up their tribe’s immunity to the women’s tribe for the night in order to vote off another man in their own tribe simply because he didn’t like him. The men’s team had fought hard to beat the women’s tribe in order to win the immunity idol but just like that, they were willing to give it up to the women that night in order to vote one of their own out. Not because he wasn’t a good player, not because he was weak or sick or wanted to go home. Simply because one man didn’t like him and convinced 7 other men to give up their immunity to send him home. No other tribe in 24 seasons and over 400 tribal councils has every done that. Wow! That is influence.
Proverbs 12:18 says “Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” Our words contain power whether we realize it at the time they are spoken or not. Words spoken in a moment of anger are powerful and cut deeply. The opposite is true as well. Sincere, kind, encouraging words spoken to someone who is struggling at the moment have the ability to bring life to their situation and healing to their wounds. Usually more than we know in both situations. We have power in the words that we choose to use to influence a situation one way or another. Proverbs 15:1 says “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Choose your words carefully and use the power that you possess to lift up and not to tear down, but never, ever underestimate the power in your words.
Psalm 19:14 “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
