[Transcript of a midweek message published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], February 2021]
Sticks and Stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me …
We know that saying is a load of rubbish, but do we truly know the damage words cause, and do we know that because of Jesus we have the means to bring healing?
I would normally be on a dog walk but it’s a bit miserable and it looks like it’s going to be miserable for the next few days and I find it really difficult to hold an umbrella, my book and the camera at the same time so I thought, rather than take you on a walk with my dog, I would introduce you to our other family pets, the chickens.
[00:35] We all know the saying, the rhyme, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” and we know that that’s not true. Words do hurt enormously and yet do we realize how much damage long-term words can do? Actually, the things that we say to people can last for a lifetime and have a huge effect on not only how they think about themselves, but actually how they live out their identity in their life.
[01:11] You see, when I was in my teens, I was tall but I was also very slim; in some ways I viewed myself as a normal person stretched, I still do. So many people would say to me “Martin, you are so skinny” and I hated that. I hated the idea of being skinny so much so that if I was out and about I couldn’t look at myself in reflections in shop windows or mirrors. When I got into my 20s I started having meal replacement shakes after each meal just to try and get my weight up. Now, it worked but I wouldn’t recommend it, though the strawberry flavoured slim fast is rather nice.
[01:53] You see, people didn’t intend any thing bad by saying I was skinny. For some people it was probably a compliment and yet for me that had a huge effect on my self-esteem, on my confidence and it had an effect on my eating habits. You see, words spoken over us create places in our lives where negativity can get in and create a base of operations, a stronghold, a place where they can work in other areas of our life, other areas of our soul, and really affect who we are and what we are able to do in our lives. Things that someone said to you, maybe as a child, still have a huge effect on you now. It shaped you, it shaped who you are, it shaped your identity and what you can and can’t do. It may be that it was so long ago that you can’t remember those original words that were spoken and yet you can see the consequences in your life and your relationships
[03:04] I mean this is probably why that when I was training to be a teacher they always said “talk about the behaviour and not the child”, so you say “you know that’s bad, that’s not good behaviour” rather than “you’re a bad child” because they recognized, we recognize that if we say someone is something that invariably that’s what they become.
[03:26] I believe there’s a spiritual aspect to that too, not just a psychological aspect. I believe that the words that we say have spiritual power that allows negativity into our lives. I would call that negativity the devil, you might call it something different but when those words are spoken and when those feelings are not dealt with they can have a hugely detrimental effect on our lives.
[03:54] As I follow Jesus Christ I believe that Jesus through his death and resurrection has given us power over those negative effects; that those strongholds that have been built on our lives can be demolished. In fact, it says these words in 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 4:
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds”
[04:31] I’d encourage you, as we’ve been looking in this sermon series ‘Me and my big mouth’, to think carefully about the words you say because your words have power. They have power to build up but they always also have power to destroy and to knock down.
[04:47] So be careful with your words but also have the hope through Jesus Christ that if there are things in your life that are damaging you and holding you back that you can break free from them through the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus working in your life. You can do that through prayer but the best way to do it is through conversation with us or another follower of Jesus Christ, to help you work through those things. Listen to God and allow the holy spirit to come into your life and mend those things that are broken.
Thank you so much for watching. Do please subscribe to our YouTube channel and share this video on social media platforms. Do remember also this is linked to our current sermon series teaching series ‘me and my big mouth’ which is shown on Sundays. You can watch that in our service or you can find that as a separate YouTube video. This Sunday Neil Robinson will be talking about the importance of the words that we speak, that we build up rather than knock down, so do tune in, do search for us – Horley Baptist on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
See you later. ’bye
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[1] YouTube link: Have Words Hurt You?
Bible references: 2 Corinthians ch10 v 4
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Contributed by Martin Shorey; © the Author
