Family Talk: A Family Devotional on Our WordsSample

Game: 

Grab one small cookie (or whatever you’re having for a family snack today) for each family member. Begin by having everyone point their faces towards the ceiling; place the cookie on one of their (closed) eyes. Countdown to start; without using any hands, the first person who has the entire cookie in their mouth and eaten wins. If the cookie hits the ground, the person must start over.

Message:

Unkind words can do a lot of damage to us. Many times, we think that the mean things we say don’t matter very much. Maybe we think that the person we are speaking to knows that we are just angry. Or we think that if we say it as a joke it won’t hurt as much. Or maybe we think that the other person doesn’t really care what we think of them. Or that the person deserves to know what we think or how we feel.

It is easy to let hurtful words slip out of our mouths and tell ourselves that it is “no big deal.” But those words can stick in our hearts and be remembered for a long time. The Bible compares our mean words to being shot with arrows or stabbed with a sword, and probably we can all think of things that have been said to us that feel like that, even if they were said as a joke.  It’s not just the good things we say that are powerful and effective, but all of our words are.  The mean things we say are also powerful and effective.  They can destroy our relationships with each other, and destroy our whole family. The next time you want to say something mean remember how much damage you will do by saying it.

Question:

What is something that someone has said to you that hurt your feelings?

What is something you have said that you wish you wouldn’t have?

What is your favorite meal Mom cooks? Dad cooks?

Declaration:

Add this declaration to your family prayer now and each night at dinner. “Our family does not use our words to destroy each other;  we have wisdom in what we say.”

Verses:

Proverbs 11:9 Evil words destroy one’s friends; wise discernment rescues the godly.

Proverbs 12:18 There is one who speaks rashly like the thrusts of a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 26:18-19 Like a maniac shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives their neighbor and says, “I was only joking!”

Ephesians 4:19 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.