Today's Words, Tomorrow's Harvests预览

What I Know Matters

The Bible, God's Word, clearly presents His desires for His children to have good futures. This knowledge should provide comfort for Christians regarding their futures. Then why do large numbers of Christians experience anxiety when considering their futures?

Lack of knowledge may be the key. Too few Christians have a working knowledge of God's Word, evidenced by data revealing less than 20% of Christians read the Bible daily.  In this vacuum, the words of family members, friends, media, etc. form the foundational beliefs many Christians develop towards their futures.

Understanding you reap what you sow (Galatians 6:7, New English Translation), the question becomes what is typically being sown? Sadly, words of criticism, contempt, and/or callousness are too often the norm.

The Bible declares "death and life are in the power of the tongue" (Proverbs 18:21, New English Translation). Using an agricultural metaphor, this verse means words are like seeds. They are sown into the soil of hearers' hearts and they yield harvests. 

Death-producing seeds are words that erode hearers' self-esteem. Conversely, life-producing seeds are words that affirm hearers' self-esteem. Seeds produce after their own kind; good seeds produce bountiful blooms and bad seeds produce weeds. 

Believing what they hear, hearers repeat to themselves what they have heard. This on-going internal conversation is known as self-talk. We constantly engage in self-talk unconsciously throughout each day. Considering the power of words, it's time to become aware of what we're saying to ourselves. 

Reflection: What are you hearing and saying to yourself? Inspect your harvests and you'll know what kinds of words (seeds) you're planting.