God has delivered to us the most potent gospel message of Jesus.
The gospel is the power of God unleashed to heal. The life-transforming message of the Bible is that God loves the world and sent His Son, who willingly sacrificed Himself to heal broken lives in a world full of suffering and violence. God chose to love and to suffer.
Leaders across the world and the media continuously exploit the power of words to achieve their ends.
A rumourmonger can break up friendships. ‘A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends’ (Proverbs 16:28).
It is necessary to control over one’s tongue, as the Bible teaches, it is better to be a patient person than be a warrior, to be a person with self-control than one who conquers a city (v.32). The words we speak can be either life-giving or injurious!
We have a responsibility for the words we speak and also for the kind of stories we listen to. God’s word admonishes us ‘the tongue is a small part of the body … it makes great boasts’ (James 3:5).
This small tongue can cause significant damage or bring extraordinary blessings. We need to pray to the Lord and seek his help to avoid the temptation to gossip and indulge in malicious talk.
Determine today to speak the gospel message of love, encouraging words of life and blessing everywhere you go.