“Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.”
~This is a LIE.
I never say this to my boys. 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.
Sticks and stones can break your bones, and words can destroy your spirit.
Sticks and stones can break yourbones, and you need stronger words to protect you.
Sticks and stones can break your bones, so clinging to words that bring life.
A broken bone will heal in a couple weeks, but a broken spirit can last a lifetime. Don’t we all know people wounded and scarred by words (ugly, failure, worthless, unwanted), living out of those lies as if they were truth?
Truth is, we are in a battle of words.
Did Satan bring a stick 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 not die…” He came with words to persuade and insinuate, to sow seeds of doubt that grew up into disobedience, disaster, and death.
And God does not come with sticks and stones to beat the devil (or us) down. Rather God sends words of promise and life, of healing and hope. God sends the Word to us to make all things right.
In this battle of words, between words of death and words of life, which words are we clinging to? Are you turning to the words of life, to the Word of life? Or to lesser words?
2 replies on “The Biggest Lie We Tell Our Children”
[…] Holsclaw, affiliate professor of theology at Northern Seminary, recently blogged about what he deems the biggest lie often told to children: sticks and stones may break your bones, but […]
I love this post. Sticks and stones can destroy your spirit; and a broken spirit can last a lifetime. I’m living proof. Most of us are. Tragically, most of the stones I encountered came from the church where I spent my teens and twenties struggling with trying not to be gay. I had to write a book about it; mainly so my pastors (and my mother) would understand. I’m so glad you’re following me on twitter as my hope is that my story brings clarity and healing into one of the most controversial topics the church is facing today. As a fellow believer, I’d be most interested i getting your take, if you have the time. Through tonight I’m offering it for 99cents through Amazon. Regardless, this post struck a cord, mainly because I can still feel the stones.