Words matter........

Happy Tuesday! That's what my kids say every day. They say "Happy _______", when they are saying goodbye. Whatever day it is. Do those words matter? I think that we really don't have a clue how much our words do matter. How much we can hurt people with our words or how much we can build up with our words. Can our words be influenced by someone else? Let's dig into some of Gods' good stuff and see what it shows us.......

Bible Verse: Proverbs 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are just, But the counsels of the wicked are deceitful.

This devotion is going to be a little personal. I must tell you that I have been a youth pastor for four years now and have dealt with a lot of stuff. I have been blessed to serve with some of the most loving and caring youth leaders I have ever met. Last week, one of them was wounded pretty bad by some words said by a few very negative people. This leader is self- sacrificing and always puts the youth ahead of themselves. Even more than that, they give up so that our youth can have. Do you know the kind of person I am talking about? Let me step back for a moment. If you stand by and allow someone mistreat someone else. In my humble opinion, you are a little to blame. It makes me think of the responsibilities of a knight. We Christians should stand up for the helpless and/or weak. We should defend the defenseless. We should do the right thing. But, let's be real. That would cause us to go against the grain. Maybe make some of our friends or family members mad. I am not mad at the young person that was involved or not involved in the very harsh and negative words but, I do expect more from them. I have prayed a lot about the issue and know God will work this all out. What is totally cool is that the leader still love this young person and will not quit. Spiritual warfare really sucks sometimes! But, it's real!!!!

Here is some more meat for you. I read recently that we each speak around 25,000 words a day and we hear many times more than that. It's no wonder we treat words like they're meaningless and don't really matter. It's easy to believe the old sayings: "Words are cheap." "You've got to walk the talk." "Sticks and stones . . ."

But God's Word and specifically some of the verses from Proverbs 12 says that words are powerful. For one, they reveal what's really going on in our hearts and minds. How we use them shows who we are. Today's verse tells us not to go looking for good advice from wicked people (remember we are all wicked at times) or people who do wicked things. Sometimes their advice lies, either because they're really lying to us or because they don't know the truth themselves. If you want true advice, go to people known for telling the truth and doing good.

I must ask you whose advice are you most likely to listen to? How careful are you about what voices you are willing to trust? Let's ask God to help us to make wise choices about who we trust to give us good advice. Listen this week for words of advice offered from friends or media or other sources and think about who it is that is giving the advice and how we can know if that person is trustworthy. I think this will open your eyes to what is going on around you. Spiritual warfare everywhere. I pray you have a good day and God bless.