SEARS, WORDS and WEAPONS…

I would consider my first ‘real’ job to be as a sales associate at the old Sears store in downtown Santa Rosa, California.  I had mowed lawns since my junior high school days and worked for a print shop for a couple of hours a day after school throughout high school, but Sears is where I really entered into the reality of a regular, decent paying job, with steady hours, opportunity for advancement and the ability to become part of a team working together to achieve corporate goals and serve the public at the same time!

I worked there from the summer of 1971 and well into 1977 when I quit to manage the apartments we lived in, pursue my photography business aspirations and to follow the recent ministry call as the on-staff Youth Minister at our church.  While there, I spent my entire time at Sears working in the sales departments located in the basement of that store.  Mostly part-time in Sporting Goods while attending Junior College and later as a full-time associate in Hardware… but I knew the entire floor pretty well and could and did help out in the other departments like Paint and Electrical.  The only area I never worked in was the Catalog desk… although I did spend many a quiet evening talking to the gals who worked behind the counter!  (Don’t worry… Piper knew them all and they saw her around enough to know that I was well spoken for!)

My point in all this is that over the years, I got to know many of the regular customers who considered Sears to be their go-to store.  Most of the customers were friendly and approachable… except for one older gentleman that most of the associates tended to avoid!  It turned out that the man was a retired Deputy Sheriff and always made it a point to let that fact be known.

He had a flamboyant way of flipping open his wallet so that his big, shiny gold badge always tended to get in your face while he fished for his credit card and swung back his jacket in such a way so that the hand gun he carried on his belt could be clearly seen.  He had an attitude about him that tended to leave me with great concern for the way he had treated people while on the job and made me worry about how easily it might be for him to draw his revolver now that he seemed to live in the hyped-up stories of his past.

I hadn’t thought about that man for many, many years… until this morning when I was reading about the power behind the words that you and I speak on a daily basis.  Psalm 40:3 in The Passion Translation tells us,

“A new song for a new day rises up in me every time I think about how God breaks through for me! Ecstatic praise pours out of my MOUTH until everyone hears how God has set me free. Many will see His miracles; they’ll stand in awe of God and fall in love with Him!” 

While pursuing a Hebrew and Greek word study on various words within this verse, I was a little stunned when I looked up the original language’s meanings behind the word “MOUTH.”  Both the Hebrew and Greek translations agree that the usage of “MOUTH” is defined as our “speech or language” and “specifically as the edge of a WEAPON or the edge of a sword.” (Strong’s and Thayer’s)

That definition immediately reminded me of a very familiar scripture where the Apostle Paul specifically taught about the WEAPONS that we as Christians are to use in our daily lives.  2 Corinthians 10:4 clearly informs us that,

“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;”

So… while that older gentleman from the early days of my adult work history, carried a WEAPON at his side and tended to make all of us around him anxious by the way he spoke and paraded his gun and badge in public… we Christians… according to Paul… carry around just as powerful a weapon… one that does “not pertain to the flesh, or is under the control of the animal appetites nor governed by mere human nature, instead of by the Spirit of God” (Strongs)!   The powerful WEAPONS of our daily warfare are the very WORDS that we SPEAK each and every day!

As I began to study these verses within the context of both King David’s and the Apostle Paul’s understanding concerning the importance of the words we speak… I immediately… among other thoughts on the subject… had to sit back at my desk and wonder if the words that I speak in this current season of my life (as I have come a long way and learned a lot more in my Christian walk since those days in the early to mid-1970’s) ever cause people that I am interacting with… to feel uncomfortable or even anxious to be around me!

On that same subject matter, Jesus Himself declared that,  “The words you speak reveal the true condition of your heart…” (Matthew 12:37 – The Remedy),  while Peter distinctly taught that “Whoever speaks must speak God's words.” (I Peter 4:11 God’s Word ©)

Are the words that I speak in the course of my daily life God’s words or words that agree with the truth of His Word as found within the pages of my Bible?

How About You… and the WORDS that you speak when conversing with others in public, at home or at church… are they God’s Words… or words that line up with His truth as written in your Bible?

If God considers MY WORDS as the WEAPONS of my or HIS warfare in my walk on this earth… then I’d best make sure that every word I speak hits its target and that I don’t waste valuable ammunition by talking without thought of the harm that my words may inflict on someone else!

What do YOU think about that?

There is a lot more to these verses that I’ll be sharing over the next few weeks… but in the meantime… STAY ALERT to what comes out of your mouth!  I like the saying to engage our minds and, in this case… our spirits… in connection with HIS Spirit… BEFORE engaging our mouths!

Have a terrific weekend!  Our winter weather storm that blew through over the last few days has left us with the beautiful sights of bright blue skies and (a little) warmer weather that is quite welcome!  The snow is quickly melting and the icy morning and evening streets are quickly fading away! PTL!

So… Stay ALERT to your Godly filled WORDS and expect God’s BEST when you do!