Recently I have had good reason to reflect upon the capacity of people to destroy one another. I am not referring to war, murder, poverty, or anything of that nature, although human beings certainly can and do bring ruin upon their fellow man in those ways, too. I am, rather, thinking about the the things we say to and about other people.

Proverbs 18:21 says, "The tongue has the power of life and death." My, how powerful are our words to either set someone on a proper course or to derail them! Slander, unjust criticism, gossip, complaining, anger, cursing -- they all spew from the mouth. Matthew 12:36 says that we will have to give an account for every careless word we have spoken. What a frightening thought that is!

James 3 says that only a perfect man can control his tongue. A friend of mine likened the tongue to a nuclear reactor. I like the metaphor, because like a nuclear reactor, the tongue must be constantly watched; properly employed, it can generate enormous power, but if it goes unmonitored ... Chernobyls can happen. Such is the power of the tongue for life and death.

I wonder: were Christians to take seriously those passages of Scripture that speak to this subject, how differently might we be viewed by those who are not Christians? That is a convicting thought.