Words Have Lasting Effects
September 14, 2021
When I was younger, I followed in my brother’s footsteps, mowing the yard of some of our friends when they were out of town (which generally was all Summer as they would go on a mission trip that would last 1-2 months). In the back of their yard, they had some apple trees which no one used or ate from, which in turn would result in hundreds of apples falling to the ground and beginning to spoil. In the process of mowing, as I would approach the trees, I could smell the fragrant aroma of the apples. However, being a lazy young teenager, instead of clearing off the apples I would run over them. As I would hit the apples with the lawn mower, the smell would change from very pleasant to what I call a “sweet stink” – the kind of smell that wants so desperately to be a pleasant smell, but because of its own nature (rot) it is revolting.
As I was thinking of the verse above, I could not help but think about the sweet stink of the apples and wonder if our words that we offer one another might fall into the same category. In church, we often “offer” prayer requests in such a way that it has little to do with actual prayer, and more to do with a desire on our part to gossip about what is going on in the lives of our brothers and sisters in the faith. Do we smile to the faces of those around us, and then when speaking of them grimace and complain about the person? Oh, please do not get me wrong. There will be individuals with whom you struggle to get along or interact. Yet, it is not necessary for you to tell others of your frustration with certain individuals.
With regard to the apples that I mentioned earlier, in the state they were on the ground, I would guess that if the texture or the smell did not nauseate someone were they to attempt to consume them that the rot would (if not even make them violently sick through food poisoning). Yet, if someone were to consume them when they were ripe, they would be nourishing and pleasant. Paul says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths…” This gives the idea that it will either make one sick or it will cause the hearer to take on the same characteristics. So when others hear you speak, do you want to be corrupting, causing others to possibly spread spiritual and emotional sickness that you have brought about, or do you want to be nourishing, healing, and up building? Your words have lasting effect.
