It seems like God gave us a superpower when he gave us the gift of speech; he gave us some of his power. God used words to create the universe, including humans and the Garden of Eden. He used words to reveal himself in Scripture and his Son is the living Word of God. Since he made humans in his image, God also gave humans the ability to exercise power through words. But with this great gift comes great responsibility. Jesus warned us: “But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matt. 12:36-37, NIV). Why such a dire warning? Because God so tremendously loves the humans he has made and he doesn’t want us harming them with words. Jesus made relationships top priority and taught that our lives will be judged according to how we treat others – which is why God will judge us by our words.
James makes a similar point when he says: “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness” (James 3:9, NIV). Words are our chief tool for edifying the precious humans that God created. Of all the creatures he made on Earth we are the only ones made in his likeness. We are reflections of his virtue, intellect, leadership, speech, relationality and creativity. And God bestowed on humans the high honor of developing and managing the Earth. We have the gift of speaking words that can harm or bless these marvelous humans. Therefore, should we not continuously improve our speech?
This means we need to be very cautious about criticizing others. We need to avoid unfair generalizations. For example, instead of criticizing “all” the people in a group we criticize “a segment of them”. We are to be extra careful about not slandering others with unsubstantiated criticisms. We abhor prejudice so we do not criticize others on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, or economic class.
The includes reverse prejudice such as labeling others as beneficiaries of white privilege. Everyone has privileges and disadvantages in their lives. Picking out one form of privilege based on race is just another form of prejudice. We do not know what others have been through, and their lives may have been much more difficult than ours even if we had disadvantages because we were a minority. Moreover, we are to evaluate others on the basis of virtue and concrete actions. We do not honor God or humans when we speak prejudicial words based on race. We may feel more justified and righteous when we do so, but the feelings are false and only tear down our own soul.
In general, in all of our interactions we attract or repel others by expressing our attitudes toward them. We attract with kindness, empathy, patience, concern, and encouragement. We alienate others with control, prejudice, defensiveness, anxiety, suspicion, insecurity, self-centeredness and opposition. Words are the principal means of expressing our attitudes, thus they are the principle means of binding with others or dividing from them.
