- (AMP) 32The lips of the [uncompromisingly] righteous know [and therefore utter] what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked knows [and therefore speaks only] what is obstinately willful and contrary.
- Matt 12:36, 37 (NLT) 36 And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. 37 The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned."
- Eccl 2:26a (NLT) God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy to those who please him.
Words have meaning.
I'm not just stating the obvious: there are those who believe that words have no real meaning and we should not be upset by someone's choice of words. God has a different view: What you say matters. Idle words matter.
Effective leadership is about keeping the "air clear." How easily communication can become polluted. Clarity of purpose and speech has become somewhat a lost art. We have a political culture that that too often obfuscates the true meaning and gilds speech with pretty words that mean nothing.
Chapter 10 of Proverbs has much to say about what how we speak: verses 11, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 31 and 32 all refer to what is said and the heart behind the words spoken. Good people - and good really meaning the righteous - speak for the benefit of others and not themselves. What they say is understood as having impact on the hearers. It is this gift of language that gives meaning to our lives, and sometimes we take speech for granted. In our flesh, we can easily misinterpret speech - especially as children we can give meaning to something said that is outside the context. And that meaning can shape how we understand life as an adult. We must learn to separate information from meaning.
As a young teacher and chair of the English department at my junior high school, I had the awful task of recommending the censure and firing of one of my department members who decided to teach Soul on Ice by Eldridge Cleaver-a book filled with that overused four letter word beginning with "f." Her legal defense was that words were just words and meaning was what "we" choose to give them. They had no meaning, per se. That argument ultimately turned out to be a loosing one. But it matched the times. Many legal battles were waged over the rights of teachers and students to use George Carlin's famous list of "bad words." The result of this legal mess was the political correctness movement where the air is now polluted with "correct" language that is often "willful and contrary."
Believers are admonished that our words must make a difference. Powerful business leaders, because of a “spirit sold out to Christ,” naturally speaks words that edify and clarify without having to "be careful" of what is said. Words that are filled with both grace and truth. Too much truth and no grace drives critical language. Too much grace and no truth produce words that slide into fluff. We are called to be purveyors of peace with words that are fitting to our listeners.
We can trust in the promise that righteousness yields wisdom and joy. That right living is produced by our obedience and our faith in the one who is Grace and Truth. The result? Words that encourage, edify and empower. Are you that kind of leader?
Copyright (c) 2006 by P. Griffith Lindell
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