I remember the day clearly. I had recently moved to a new location as I moved up in my military career. My record spoke for itself, my experience was more than adequate for the new assignment, and my ability to function as part of a larger team unquestionable. I was excited to meet my new coworkers and to jump into the work that was before me. After all, we were on the same team and on the same mission. I was eager to get started.
That all changed in a moment. We did not have separate offices but instead we worked out of cubicles. Privacy was limited of course, but we knew that and for the most part our work kept us from sitting around listening to what others were saying… unless you were the new guy. Those first few days had me looking at my watch often, counting down the minutes to leave and head home due to boredom and not yet being assigned too many tasks.
It was during one of those moments, that I overheard the conversation in the cubicle next to mine. Two coworkers were making it clear, that somebody just wasn’t up to their standards, and there was no way that they ever could be. They questioned the discernment of the leadership who had allowed this person to be on the team. They questioned the future of the organization because of this decision. They said unkind things about this person in ways that I had not heard used before.
Then it dawned on me. This no good derelict and worthless individual that was the topic of their discussion, was none other than me. Ouch!
I was crushed. I had only been on the job a few days and this was the perception or view that others on my team had of me without even knowing me or making an effort to. What did I do? I scooted lower in my chair so that nobody would know that I had overheard them, and I carried their comments home with me that night with a heavy and hurting heart.
I never said anything about overhearing the conversation, but I never forgot it. As those individuals progressed up the career ladder, I sat in training sessions that they gave about teamwork, and about trust. I watched as they pushed an agenda that said that everyone on the team matters, that everyone is important, and that they wanted to be the leaders that could always be counted on to represent the underdog. But the words always sounded hollow and empty. Void of conviction and lifeless. Their actions just didn’t add up to their mean spirited and cutting words that they spoke that were stamped in my memory.
Sadly, I’ve seen this in the church as well. Those who testify of the goodness of God on Sunday but wield the careless of tongues on other days. Speaking words that cut, injure and destroy in ways that the wounded alone can understand. They felt that what was said was unheard, but they were wrong. Someone did hear and damage was done. To those whom they wounded their words ring hollow and empty.
James 3:3-6 tells us that a bit in the mouth of a horse controls the whole horse. A small rudder on a huge ship in the hands of a skilled captain sets a course in the face of the strongest winds. A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it!
It goes on to say that it only takes a spark, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell.
What do your words do? Even those that you think nobody heard. I’ve seen church programs fall apart because of things said in haste and in an unkind manner, volunteers quit volunteering due to someone sharing their unsolicited opinion or view. Young converts that turn away from the church after painful words drifted through the airways into their ears and destroyed their new found hope.
As a young family, we stopped attending a church once due to overhearing the pastors wife speaking harshly about our children with another church member while standing in the aisle after service. She may have been right, our girls may have acted up that day, but her careless words drove away a family that desperately wanted to be loved and accepted. She never knew why we stopped attending. After several weeks we began to attend another place of worship, but those careless words nearly cost an unimaginable price. What if we had used those words as a reason to turn from God?
Can I encourage you today to guard what you say. Can I remind you that those words have incredible power. Avoid the senseless tragedy that can be caused by careless words.
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