Crucified with Words

I can't tell you how many times I have been crucified.  I have lost count.  Not your average crucifixion.  Not one of nails and wood, but of words.

 Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
 
Whoever thought up that little rhyme didn't have a grasp on reality.  We all know they hurt.  Words wound. We have all been there. Forget the broken bones of sticks and stones.  It is the gashes from a tongue that lashes out that really cause a heart to break. How do you heal a heart that has been pummeled with criticism, anger, or just plain old sin? We have all been there, beaten and bloody.  But how to get from "there" to "here", the place of healing?

"In the beginning God created..."

"And God said..."

He created a world with words.  What power they must then have! Power to create something out of nothing.  Power to breathe life. Power to maim.  Power to destroy.  Power to kill.  Words possess power.  And the only way to fight a word bent on destruction is with WORDS.  God's Words.

Fight the words that pierce with the words that heal.

For words of condemnation "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." {Romans 8:1}

For words of criticism there is singing. "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." {Zephaniah 3:17}

For words spoken in anger there is grace. "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up..." {Acts 20:32}

For words of rejection there is the Crucifixion.  "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands..." {Isaiah 49:15-16}

God in the form of a man that wrote words on His hands.  Names of His children.  Written with nails and blood.  It is to Him that we go for our words of healing when the world spews its ugly words.