Ephesians 4:29 ESV
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.

You can do more damage with your words than you can with any other part of your body or any other thing you have control over. With technology and word-of-mouth potential, you can destroy a person with words and not even be in the same room with them.

There’s good news on the flip side of that, though: Your words have the power to build others up. The tongue really is a miraculous thing. We don’t see anything else in all of nature where two opposing things can come from the same source. The tongue has the power to destroy and the power to build up.

James 3:3-12 ESV
If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Most of us had a teacher whose words encouraged us or a coach whose words inspired us. Maybe your grandma changed the way you see yourself with her kind words, or you still carry around a note your dad wrote you years ago. People choose hobbies, careers, and even spouses because of what someone else said to them.

Words are free and always available. They have the power to change your life. And every day, in every conversation, you have the power to speak life-changing words to those around you.

1 Thessalonians 5:11-15 ESV
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.

This is not a mandate to avoid saying hard things. In fact, it’s the opposite. Paul’s encouragement in his letter to the Ephesians is to say “only what is helpful for building others up.” Sometimes that requires you to say hard things in a kind way—to dial into the emotions of those around you and to speak words that are helpful.

Can you imagine what would happen in your family, your marriage, or your workplace if you leaned into the power of words that build up? The words you say matter. Who needs to hear them today?