Words Matter
- Larry Kutzler
- Jun 4
- 4 min read
Proverbs 18:21 The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
Psalm 19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer.
My son, Nathan, has a love of words, especially words that inspire. For example, he finds a word that applies a benefit to his life and he focuses on that word until it becomes a part of him. Recently, he focused upon the word ‘subtraction’ as a word that he felt needed to be a major part of his daily focus. He looked at the stuff that filled his daily life, and realized that if he subtracted the things that cluttered his day he would have more time to focus on the things that mattered most to him. He continued to apply ‘subtraction’ to other areas of his life such as the stuff he accumulated around his office and his home. He expanded this word out to begin to see that most of his life was rotating around the things he had acquired, and rather than controlling those things, they were controlling him. Needless to say, the word ‘subtraction’ became a word that brought revelation into his life and helped him become more centered on the things that matter most to him.
He has had similar experiences with other words, such as, essentialism, create, and execution. These words go beyond the daily word for the day concept … they become major themes for months until that word brings its meaning into focus in our life. I thought I would try to pick up on this and do my own word.
So, I picked the word ‘precision.’ I wanted to try this word out because I love when people are precise in their thinking, in their craft or trade, or in how they understand the Scriptures. Radio talk show host, Dennis Prager, has a word like this that he uses all the time, and it is a word that controls his communication. His word is ‘clarity.’ I have also incorporated that word into the list of words that run my life. Nothing is more frustrating in life than when the communication we are using is not clearly understood. Prager says that everything in life boils down to ‘clarity.’ It’s the ‘clarity’ in which you understand yourself, others, and of course how clearly you understand God.
Back to my word … ‘precision.’ I have asked God to help me understand the His Word in a manner that makes Him clear to me, with no ambiguity about a principle, value, or spiritual teaching. ‘Precision’ is important because it makes me aware of how well I do things, whether I accomplish something with quality or on the fly. If I ask myself about how precise my understanding is in a matter, I can then determine if I need to look closer or dig deeper. Americans, in general, are not precise people. Often, the younger generation accepts what others accept without too much thought. The older generation stays with ideas they have grown old with and there is little to no chance of anyone changing their minds. So, whether we accept ideas without much vetting, or we stay stuck in ideas formulated from the past, the problem is the same … we don’t change.
Words can inspire us to change and change for most of us will be hard whether we are old or young. Determine how self-aware you are and choose a word that might help you see yourself clearly. A word like ‘honesty’ could help you discover that you may not be as honest as you may think. Determine how cluttered your life is with stuff or activities, perhaps you may even waste a great deal of time watching television. Choose a word like ‘subtraction’ and see what things can be eliminated to give you a quality of life without all the stress associated with cluttering up your life. Determine why you can’t accomplish all the things you would like to get done in your life. A word for you may be ‘execution’ to start executing on accomplishing the meaningful things you are interested in achieving.
There are all kinds of words that could help you manage your life. Take it one step further and choose a word with more spiritual meaning, such as, prayer, faithful, forgiving, merciful, and kindness. Regardless, words do have fruitful meaning and we need to discover how they can help us be reminded to live by the value of their meaning.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler