A song came out a few years ago called “La La La.” The recent flurry of people hating, defriending, and arguing with each over sometimes trivial things lately has made me start thinking about it again. The lyrics of this song are so intriguing. Its very relatable as well, as I’m sure you’ve all run into someone who went on and on about something to the point that you totally zoned out. But this song is not just about zoning out. It details the persons significant frustration with someone, to the point that the second verse goes on to say that because of their words, their relationship is basically over. (Hush, don’t speak. When you spit your venom, keep it shut I hate it when you hiss and preach. About your new messiah cuz your theories catch fire. I can’t find your silver lining, I don’t mean to judge. But when you read your speech it’s tiring, enough is enough.)
Have you ever been so annoyed with someone on a soapbox that you would give up your friendship or relationship with them? Or have you ever lost a friendship because of something dumb that someone said? Our words have far more power than we usually want to give them credit for.
“Death and life are in the power of the tongue.” (Proverbs 18:21).
The problem we run into far too often is that we take the person out of the equation and only hear their words. We start to see them through the eyes of our anger and venom and not through their inherent, God-given worth. It’s easy to kick someone out of your life or pulverize someone with your words when you aren’t coming from a place of love.
But the Bible says that God’s words would be “sweeter than honey to our taste,” (Psalms 119:103) meaning that our goal as Christians should not be to make people cover their ears and run away from us, but to be able to speak to people in a way that they we remind them of God. Our goal is that our words be consumed as you enjoy something sweet to eat. Proverbs 30 tells us that “every word of God is flawless” and that we should not add to his words, but too often Christians lash off into their own personal judgments and make up our own soapbox about this issue or that person, instead of staying true to the things that He asked us to do: speaking only His words, and presenting them in a way that they taste like honey.
Please don’t misunderstand me- there is a time and place for honest truth and a time and place for standing firm to that truth. But the Bible says “the words of the wicked kill; the speech of the upright saves.” (Proverbs 12:6) When we speak, we should not do it because we are angry, judgmental, or uncaring, but because our goal with every word is to save. God’s Words from the very beginning were words of truth, life, and encouragement, and created beautiful things as he spoke the world into existence. And Jesus later proclaimed that if we held onto the words he had spoken, they would give us the power to live the way he did. In fact, the only time in the Bible that God breaks things down with his words, His goal is to them rebuild them up and redeem them, not to leave them broken, angry, and zoned out. God’s way was not to overwhelm and not to destroy with His words. His goal was always to both love and to save. And if we can get to that place, maybe we could all get to a place with some relationships worth hanging onto; and get us to a place where compromise is not a dirty word but an understandable bending for possibility.
Are you driving people away with your soapbox disputes? Or are you learning to speak in love no matter what the topic?
“Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we’re not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. We refuse to wear masks and play games. We don’t maneuver and manipulate behind the scenes. And we don’t twist God’s word to suit ourselves. Rather, we keep everything we do and say out in the open, the whole truth on display, so that those who want to see and judge for themselves in the presence of God…. Remember our Message is not about ourselves; we’re proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Master. All we are is messengers, errand runners from Jesus for you” (2 Corinthians 4:1-2,5).