A few weeks ago, I was helping to coach our daughter’s softball team on a Sunday afternoon, and the other team was up to bat. As I was standing in the outfield, I began to hear what sounded like cheering coming from the other team’s dugout. I was focused on trying to coach, which meant I was surprised when one of the girls in the outfield started to talk to me about the cheer. I stopped to listen and heard not cheers but taunts coming from the other team. This behavior continued throughout the game; afterwards a number of the girls on our daughter’s team talked to me about how much the taunting bothered them.
What struck the girls on our team were the ways that these words hurt them, but what hit me was the choice that the other team had made to seek to tear down other people—words that proceeded from the heart. While this example might seem to be trivial, given that these words coming from seven, eight, and nine-year-olds, it reminded me that what we say comes from our hearts. I was reminded of Proverbs 12:18, “The words of the reckless pierce like swords, but the tongue of the wise brings healing,” and also of the secular proverb, “Be careful of your thoughts, for they become your words. Be careful of your words, for they become your actions.”
Jesus says that the words that come from our hearts are what defile us. Most of us have experienced times when either we have spoken words that have begun to change us or the words of others have struck us deep in the heart. Words have power to tear down or to build up; the flip side of our words defiling us is that our words can also sanctify us when we speak them wisely, choosing words that will lead to us living as people made ever more into the image of Jesus.