Have you ever tried to give a gift to someone? Perhaps you gave a gift to your close friend, to your family member or even to you colleague. When we give someone a gift and we saw that the recipient used the gift correctly, we are definitely pleased and happy with that as the giver. But what if you saw the recipient using your precious gift in a wrong way. Say for example you gave someone a luxurious car and the recipient drives it recklessly resulting to a lot of scratches on the car? How will you feel about it? I’m sure that you will be disappointed and sad.
God has given us humans the gift of “ability to speak”. Everyone received that gift which makes humans different from animals. The ability to speak helps us to communicate our thoughts and feelings to others. But like the luxurious car that I gave as an example, the gift of speech can also be used recklessly and in the wrong way and when that happens it can hurt others and even cause an injury. So how would the God who gave that precious gift feel? He will definitely feel sad and disappointed.
That is why we need to make sure that we are using the gift correctly. That is in a way of “guarding” our tongue so that it does not hurt others. The way we speak and the words we utter have a big impact to others, it can be uplifting but on the other hand, it can also cause sadness and worst, depression. There is a saying that goes like this: “a crooked speech can cause grief while a calm tongue is a tree of life.” This indicates that when we speak calmly and kindly, it also has an effect of calming the person we are talking to and even be refreshed. But if we don’t choose the words wisely, it can have bad effects on others.
Sometimes even with simple jokes, we must still be careful with what we say. Because jokes that are also not told at the right time can have disastrous results. For example, a mother almost had a heart attack when her son’s friends teased and jokingly told her that her son had an accident.
So thoughtless jokes and words can be detrimental to others. Before you open your mouth to speak, make sure that you carefully thought about what you are going to say. Our ability to speak is so powerful that even unintentional words can be like a sword that stabs a person, it is very painful and it can leave a wound and lasting scar, and not only that, it can also ruin relationships, and worst of all, it can take the lives of others.
Negative Use Of Words and Speech
Language and speech are normal parts of our lives. But there are people who uses bad language in their daily lives too and that includes swearing, profanity and obscene words. Others use those expressions for personal pleasure or to amuse themselves and make others laugh. We can sometimes see this on television when comedians uses obscene words just to make their audience laugh, sometimes they even insult innocent people just so they may seem funny.
Here are other ways of using speech negatively:
Gossips. Gossip is also common among people. Yes, it is not wrong to talk to others about others especially if we are just proud of them. There are people who talks to others about the accomplishment of their loved ones or sometimes they talk about how someone helped them. We can also tell a story from person to another to give good news. Isn’t it that sometimes we found out that someone we know is getting married, having a new baby or migrating through gossip? Through gossip sometimes we can found out about the assistance that the government will provide. If the goal of the conversation is to deliver a positive message or an uplifting story, this is a good gossip. But nowadays, most people are fond of gossiping and slandering others. They often criticize others and pull them down through gossips and this usually leads to chaos.
Abusive remarks and speeches. As I mentioned earlier, speech can hurt the emotions of others when not used correctly. Abusive speech is often harsh and vicious, especially when the goal is to criticize, humiliate, insult or worse, ruin the dignity and character of others.
Yes, words alone can ruin a person, but when used properly, speech can build up. That is why I hope that all of us use our ability to speak correctly. How do you use your ability to speak?
@thepandagirl 🐼
