“I had heard it a hundred times in my life, but for whatever reason, whether it was how you said it or the timing… it finally clicked…”
My dear friend said these words to me after she had dealt with some long, hard, and heavy few months. I had shared what I considered to be a simple truth… a truth that, frankly, I felt powerless speaking. I felt like my words were useless the moment I shared them. I thought that there is no way what I said would make a difference. And yet… months later, she told me that they did. As a result, she saw something that she hadn’t seen before, and it was all because the Holy Spirit worked in those words, in that perfect, divine, crazy moment.
There have been books, articles, inspiring sermons, artsy-fartsy home decors, and blogs on blogs on blogs spreading the idea that our words matter. It’s a message that has inundated our society. Sensitivity, political correctness, and simple consideration all play a heavy part in our present world’s communication. While all of this is truly important to consider, I see something deeper at work in all this.
Our language is an entrusted gift.
We have a heavy responsibility. We must guard our words and treat them with great care. I’m afraid our free speech has run away with us. We are far too prone to use our words to tear apart, destroy, and criticize rather than build up in love. We have been entrusted with the gift of language. Our Creator made us to communicate (which is amazing when you consider it long enough). What did He want us to communicate? The Love of the Creator. The Hope that is an anchor for our souls. The dream of the estranged returning home. The Joy found in His Presence. And so much more… really, he gave us language to connect and transform. Let’s not take this gift for granted or stifle its ultimate purpose with our scorn and judgment.
“Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.” 2 Tim 1:13-14
Timing is everything.
Language has significant power, yes. We can use that language to build up or tear down. But there’s a sort of mysterious phenomenon that happens when our words meet the perfect moment. We call it divine, and rightly so. The Holy Spirit is constantly showing up in places by using our weak and seemingly cliche words to transform hearts. Communication moves beyond the horizontal space of people… it involves the vertical connectedness of the Divine. When the Holy Spirit indwells, our language, that we often consider clumsy and helpless, is used in magnificent ways… to connect, draw, and inspire others towards holiness and wholeness. We don’t often know when that divine moment is for someone. I could have never known that the timing with my friend was so significant. But had I held back the truth because of the fear of “being cliche”, that moment could have been lost. Our charge is to speak that truth, ask and discern the moments, and trust the Spirit to do the transforming in His sweet and perfect timing.
How we say things actually matters.
An overseas friend said something to me that stuck — it wasn’t what she said, but the way she said it that I’ve never forgotten. I was discouraged, she encouraged me with truth, and I thanked her for her wisdom. Her response was humble, bold, full of love, and perfectly straightforward: “This is truth you already know. I’m just reminding you.”
I’ll never forget that. Somehow, her perspective and brassy words were needed in that moment and have forever transformed how I think about sharing truth.
We should never discount our perspective or the gift of language that He has specifically given us. Our voices in the lives of others is so important, and as our grace-filled speech reaches into hearts, we can rest-assured that the Holy Spirit is interpreting.
Ultimately, there are two things working in communication (there are many other things too, but for the purpose of this blog, I’m focusing on two) — our brains and the Spirit. If our brains can cling to truth and communicate in love, then the Spirit will use whatever weak words we produce to glorify the Father. Let’s be responsible for our tiny words and trust the Spirit to do the heart work.