JULY 16, 2012
Speech
Study
Read: Proverbs 18:1-15
Let no
corrupt word proceed out of your mouth. —Ephesians 4:29
Dr. Deb Roy, a researcher and cognitive scientist with the
Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, recorded the first 3 years of his
child’s life to learn
how humans acquire language. He and his wife rigged their
home with
recording devices, which they used to collect over 200,000 hours of
audio
and video footage. Amassing, condensing, and editing the recordings
enabled them to hear baby sounds like “gaga” evolve into words like “water.”
If someone wanted to conduct a research project at your home,
would
you participate if you knew that your every syllable would be recorded
and
analyzed? What would the study reveal? Proverbs 18 offers insight about
some unwise speech patterns. The writer notes that foolish people express
their
own opinions instead of trying to understand what others have to say
(v.2).
Does this characterize us? Do we sometimes provoke fights with our
words (v.7),
or speak impulsively and “answer a matter before [hearing] it”?
(v.13).
We need to become students of our speech. With God’s help we can
identify and transform destructive dialogue into words of encouragement
that
are “good for necessary edification” and that “impart grace to the
hearers”
(Eph. 4:29).
Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only, for my King;
Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages for Thee. —Havergal
Our words have the power to build up or tear
down.
Source: Our Daily Bread 2012
