This past Sunday, Michael and I were fortunate to be able to attend the church where several of our friends belong. Their Pastor would periodically say during his sermon, “People, can I get some better back up in here?” To me, this was his way of saying, “Can a brother get an Amen!?” I found it a unique way to call to the attention of his congregation an important point he was trying to make. He wanted to make sure his congregation heard what his was saying. The words he had to say were important.
It made me stop and think about the importance of God’s word. Now, I’ve never personally counted, but research has shown that phrases like, “The word of the Lord came unto me . . .” is mentioned nearly 4,000 times in the Bible. Wow- 4,000 times! That’s a lot!! Psalm 119 alone is about delighting in God’s word. “How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping your word.” (Psalm 119:9) “Deal generously with your servant so that I might live; then I will keep Your Word.”(Psalm 119: 17) “My life is down in the dust; give me life through your word.” (Psalm 119: 25) “Lord, Your word is forever . . .Your word is a lamp for my feet.” (Psalm 119:89, 105) “I long for your salvation; I put my hope in Your word.” (Psalm 119: 81)
Wow-the Lord told me that I, Nicole Hogan, a lowly servant; can put my hope in His word. What grace!!! What an undeserved privilege! That just shows me what a great importance that God places on His words. It makes me wonder if we use the same importance on our words. We should, but do we? One of my favorite things growing up was when my Pastor would bow his head before he began his sermon and pray, “May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord; our strength and our Redeemer.” Amen. This is when I would say, “People, can I get some better back up in here?” This prayer always reminded me of the importance of what he was saying and how we were receiving it. My pastor’s words mattered to God. Well guess what? Our words do too!
How often do you think about the words you say to other people? Do you lift people up or tear them down? Do you hurt people behind their back because you gossip about them and cause others to judge them without really knowing them? It pains me to think of the painful trials our brothers and sisters on the streets have to endure because of ignorant careless words. Words others use carelessly to stereotype a population of people. I know when we are out serving our friends, that it is so important to choose our words carefully. That is why we started using the word ‘camper’ instead of ‘homeless.’ We did not want to remind them every time we spoke in general that they were ‘homeless’, the ‘lepers’ of our society. We wanted them to know that they are our friends and they are loved. That God loves them too! To use any of the examples from above, how well do you think they would be willing to listen to us if they heard us talking poorly to one another or fighting and tearing each other apart? Do you think they would trust enough (or believe us) to talk about our Father if they heard us bad mouthing one another or one of them? No way!! You can ask Abby and Jo Jo because I ask them all of the time. . . “What does the Bible say about our Word?” They are so tired of hearing me ask this, they just kind of roll their eyes and say, “our word is our word.” Or “Our yes means yes and our no means no.” But this is so true. As Christians, this has to be the truth for us ALL of the time.
I used to be friends with someone who used to bad mouth people all of the time, even her sisters. It always made me wonder, “If she will bad mouth her own family and other good friends, what is she saying about me when I’m not around?” Eventually she lost my trust. Unfortunately, isn’t that what we do as Christians to other non-believers? Once we’ve lost their trust, how can we witness? The answer is: WE CAN’T.
My husband and I used to have this tradition where each week, one of us would research and find a meaningful passage that we thought would make us better partners and parents. We used to take that passage and write it on the mirror in our bathroom with a dry erase marker. Every day it was there for us as a reminder of how God wanted us to act. One of my favorite verses my husband wrote to me was, “A wise heart instructs its mouth and increases learning with its speech. Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.”(Proverbs 16: 23-24) Man, how I knew I needed to hear those words. “People, can I get some better back up in here!!?
For the next 30 days, I challenge you to write that verse down somewhere where you will see it several times a day, every day. My prayer for you is that when you see it, you will remember the gravity of your words, whether sweet or foul. I pray that each day you become better and better at remembering the importance that our Father places on our words. I pray that your words can also be your witness. I can’t imagine the new heights that God will take us when the power of HIS word comes into fruition in our lives! Be blessed this week and always!
Sticks and Stones,
Nicole
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