Robert Clements
One of the smallest organs in the body is the tongue, and yet so much has happened in the world because of it. In Proverbs 18:21 it says, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
I looked at my tongue in the mirror this morning.
“You don’t look very powerful,” I told it.
It did not reply, which was just as well, because if it had, I might have spent the rest of the morning arguing with myself.
The tongue is a tiny thing. It cannot lift a suitcase, push a stalled car, or open a stubborn pickle jar. Yet it can start a war, destroy a marriage, end a friendship, ruin a reputation, or reduce a confident person to tears.
One sentence can do what a hammer sometimes cannot.
“You will never succeed!”
A child hears those words and carries them for thirty years.
“I don’t trust you anymore!”
A relationship that took years to build suddenly begins to collapse.
“Did you hear what she did?”
And gossip puts on its running shoes and races through the neighbourhood before the truth has even found its spectacles.
That is the power of death in the tongue.
But the same tongue can also bring life.
“I believe in you.”
Suddenly, the child who was ready to give up tries once more.
“I forgive you.”
A door that had been locked for years begins to open.
“I am sorry.”
Three simple words enter a wounded heart and begin repairing what pride had broken.
“You are not alone.”
And someone standing at the edge of despair takes a step back.
Words do not possess magical power. We cannot say, “I am a millionaire,” fifty times and expect the bank manager to telephone us with congratulations. But words shape attitudes, influence decisions, strengthen relationships, and inspire action. What we repeatedly say can slowly create the atmosphere in which we live.
The second part of the verse says that those who love the tongue will eat its fruit. In other words, our words eventually return to feed us. Speak bitterness every day, and bitterness will sit at your table. Speak cruelty, and people will begin avoiding your company. Speak encouragement, honesty, kindness, and grace, and trust will grow around you.
Perhaps, before speaking, we should ask, “Will my words wound or heal? Will they create fear or courage? Will they spread bitterness or bring peace?”
The tongue may be tiny, but heaven has placed enormous responsibility upon it.
So today, use it carefully. Somewhere, someone may be waiting for one word from you to bury their hope or breathe life into it!
