An ungodly man digs up evil, and it is on his lips like a burning fire. A perverse man sows strife, and a whisperer separates the best of friends.
(Proverbs 16:27-28).
Most of the words that flow out of one’s mouth are not neutral; they either edify or tear down others. Many of us grew up as children hearing or saying these words: “Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” But if you have been on the receiving end of a sharp tongue, you know that words do indeed hurt. Words often bring heartache that’s harder to heal than a broken bone or a pulled muscle. If you were given ten cents for every kind word you spoke, and paid five cents for every unkind word spoken, would you be rich or poor? If you were paid according to your words, what would your bank account reflect? Colossians 4:6, “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”
Notice in our text that an ungodly man digs up evil, spreads evil reports, sows strife, and works to separate the best of friends, and it’s obvious that he does so by gossip, slander, and backbiting. He does this because his heart is perverse. He is a man who is dead in trespasses and sins, a hater of God, and therefore he does not care whom he destroys with his words. But his problem isn’t really his tongue; his problem is his heart. His tongue wags wildly because his heart is enslaved to Satan and sin (2 Tim. 2:25-26). By walking in perversity and wickedness, gossip and slander, he is simply behaving according to his true nature.
Read the full article at: https://rcus.org/article/words-are-like-a-two-edged-sword/
