The Authority

June 15

Words can be effective tools in the construction of a relationship. They can be employed to build people up and to cement the best of our intentions. Words can also be weapons of destruction that undo the best of human efforts to achieve goals, to attain worthwhile ends.

The Word of God tells us that the power of life and death is in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). That is a weighty burden for such a small member to bear. Many an individual has been destroyed emotionally, professionally, socially or spiritually by the destructive words of unthinking or uncaring individuals.

That is not the Lord’s intended use of this small but unruly member. His Word declares in Isaiah 50:4 that, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are instructed to know how to sustain the weary with a word.” This speaks essentially of the awaited Messiah, but it is true for all who call themselves by His name.

Jesus is the One whose words sustain life and hope. It is He who is the Living Word. It is He who embodies the fullness of who God is and the totality of His power. Yet we, too, have been given the authority to assume the ministry He has begun of using words of hope to lift the downtrodden, to heal the sick, and to enlighten the lost.