Week 3 Day 1: Life Or Death

"The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences." Proverbs 18:21 NLT

God spoke the world into being. He simply said, “Let there be light” and there was. He conceived creation in His thoughts, then His words conveyed to nature His plans. Nature followed the sounds of His voice, creating light and life in the dark expanse of chaos. That is how everything started, except man. 

Somehow, God wanted man to be different than the rest of creation. Instead of just speaking us into being, God created a special intimacy with us by stooping down into the dust. He formed Adam with His very hands, then He bent down even lower and breathed life into him. 

The Hebrew word for breath is ruach, but it also means God’s personal, invisible presence, energy and power that gives life and animates everything. At birth, the first thing we do is breathe in His ruach and the last thing we do is breathe out His ruach. His breath, power and energy are on loan to us from the moment we draw our first breath. Paul says that in Him we live and move and have our being. 

God breathed life into us for purposes that are beyond our wants and desires. He gave us something He didn’t give any other creature, He made us in His image. This God who animates the stars and gives them motion, who causes the trees to bow, waves to break and the earth to move, gave us His ability to create.

When we speak, we expel some of God's ruach. If we hold our hands close to our lips and say the word “create” we can feel the breath leave our lungs. So as God’s image bearers we too speak things into being. We were designed to be a bridge between the physical realm and the spiritual realm. His ruach in us allows us to fulfill our purpose, to create heaven on earth. 

We think our words don’t really matter but they do. We create with the words we speak. As image bearers our words are never neutral, they are either positive or negative and they always carry weight. Negative thoughts come out of our mouths as negative words. These words give birth to more destructive thoughts, creating a vicious circular pattern within us. This is why it is so important to learn to think about what we think about. 

We may think it's ok to speak negatively about our circumstances or some people because they “deserve” it, but in truth, that negativity affects us as well. When we speak negative thoughts our creative gift releases something toxic into the atmosphere around us. We breathe it in, making it part of us. The old saying, “When you point a finger at someone else, three are pointing back at you" is true. We don’t just damage the object of our negativity; we damage ourselves and everyone else who hears it.

Thoughts become words and actions that penetrate slowly into every aspect of our lives. This is why we must intentionally seek to keep our minds focused on the Truth that never falters and never fades away. It helps us to be positive and find peace.

Would you rather be in the presence of a negative person or a positive person? We draw encouragement from positive people, what steps can you take to be a positive encourager in the lives of others?

Meditate on Proverbs 18:21 today