“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.”
~This is a LIE.
I never say this to my boys at home. And I never say this to members in our church. The truth is, words do hurt. They wound and break us just as much as they heal and build us. Words matter, and we should never let our children think that they don’t.
A broken bone will heal in a couple weeks, but a broken spirit can last a lifetime. Don’t we all know people who are wounded and scarred by words (ugly, failure, worthless, unwanted), living out of these lies as if they were the truth?
Sticks and stones can break your bones, and words can destroy your soul.
Sticks and stones can break your bones, and words can bind the broken.
Sticks and stones can break your bones, so cling to words that bring life.
Truth is, we are in a battle of words.
The Fall
Did Satan bring sticks to kill Adam and Eve? Did he use stones to make them eat the fruit?
No. He came with words. He came with words of doubt: “Did God really say…?” He came with words of deception: “You will surely not die…” He came with words to persuade and insinuate, to sow seeds of doubt that grew up into the fruit of disobedience, disaster, and death.
(Read the entire post at the Northern Seminary Blog)