The Power of Life and Death

Here's a riddle: what holds the power of life and death, but at the same time; is not as powerful as we think?

Words.

Words have been a huge theme in my life lately. God's really been showing me how much power words hold, and then he has also showed me how much power they do not hold.

The idea of "gossip" has been thrown my way a lot lately. Thankfully I have not experienced or dealt with it presently, but rather; I have been learning to identify what is and isn't gossip; and how it is preventable but if played with too much, it cannot be fixed. Imagine ripping open a pillow at the top of a building and letting all the feathers fly in every which way. Now imagine the challenge of trying to collect all the feathers again. Pretty difficult, right? You can't. This is the same thing with words. You can't collect them back. You can't undo them. You can ask for forgiveness, but those words will leave an imprint on someone's memory forever. These words hold power.

But there are positive and wonderful words that hold power, too. Words of encouragement, words of God, words of love, hold much more power than gossiping or negativity or slandering words can. Because, words of love can overtake words of hate and pain; in the process of forgiveness. But words of hate and negativity cannot defeat words of love. It may seem or feel that way, but it is never the case- I promise. If the love you put in your words is real and true... if it is God's love... than it can do and conquer anything. You will really never know how much a simple statement of encouragement could mean to someone. It could save someone's life-- many stories have been told where someone was on the brink of suicide, but because someone encouraged them in some way; they are still living today. These words hold MORE power.

"The tongue holds the power of life and death..." -Proverbs 18:21

But, there are other times where words can only get so far. But I mean this in a different way. It is true that words of negativity and words of love hold power, immense power- but words themselves cannot make you physically see things. It can make you imagine things, it can help you to picture things, and it can make you feel things; but you cannot physically see things by hearing words.

You know exactly what I am talking about, don't you? God.

Words in scripture are the foundation of what we believe in as Christ followers. We use verses to back up why we believe in Jesus Christ as our savior. We show God's love through our words as well. Heck, look what I'm doing right now- I'm using my words to convey a point. But my words can only get so far.

"You keep saying that... you keep saying 'my words can only get so far.' So what do you mean?"

What I mean is that words are human. God is not human. Humans have questions that consist of words- and they especially have questions about God.

And- you guessed it- God is not human.

We can't always classify, prove, or label God with human words. They aren't powerful or meaningful enough. This is where real faith comes in.

Real faith isn't made up of words. It consists of trust, hope, pure belief, and the ability to rely on things you cannot see. I am sorry to say that we do not have all the answers to every question about Christianity, God, the world. (He does, but again; He is not human, so our human minds won't always be able to wrap around His answers.) What we have is what we know to be true- so, a collection of words. But the rest is faith. The rest is belief and confidence in something you cannot see.

No, God's not scientific. Faith isn't 100% logical, and the love of Christ can't be boxed down into an equation. And it is because it is not from humans. It is not man-made. It is from God.

Words are powerful, but God is the most powerful.