SHAPING
WITH WORDS

Topics: Betrayal; Lying; Preaching; Tongue; Truth

References: Proverbs 18:21; Ephesians 4:29; James 3:1–12

When a friend describes a beautiful sunset, a picture is created in your mind. The words enable you to make meaning. When a parent reacts to a child’s artwork, meaning is created between child and parent, which can affect the child’s self-concept for a lifetime.

Likewise, when a lie is spoken, a false reality is constructed that, once discovered, can rupture relationships. For example, when Bill Clinton’s inner circle believed his lie that he hadn’t had sex with Monica Lewinsky, their minds accepted an “unreal reality.” Their eventual discovery of the truth and resulting feelings of betrayal were probably more dramatic than those who hadn’t believed Clinton in the first place. This power to affect one another is serious business. Our spoken words shape the reality of those with whom we interact.

—Lori Carrell, The Great American Sermon Survey (Mainstay Church Resources, 1999)