GCV Blog

Grace Church of the Valley blog.


I'll never forget seeing that knife fall through the air, like I was watching it in slow motion. It was a church work day, and my dad was moving a ladder as we installed some insulation. A utility knife had been sitting open on the top step, and when my dad picked up the ladder, it fell off and headed straight for his arm. The resulting cut was deep, bloody, and scary. With some quick attention from my nurse mom he was fine, but it wouldn't surprise me if he still has a scar. Ephesians 4:29-31 describes all sorts of cutting, vicious language that should never be part of the believer's speech. Instead, our God commands us to be kind to one another. While we respect the cutting power of a knife, for some reason we can be sadly oblivious to the destructive power of our words. Kindness is a requirement from our God, and it's also a characteristic of His (Rom. 2:4). Far from merely negating abusive and cutting speech, God expects Christians to speak positively with kindness. Our communication with each other should reflect the good kindness of our God. Instead of tearing down others and grieving God's Spirit, let's speak to each other intentionally with kind graciousness. Kind speech means gossip is unacceptable, humor at the expense of others deplorable, and rudeness intolerable. Your words are powerful. Use them with care and kindness.