Let’s not waste our breath

Photo by Oleg Laptev on Unsplash

We are running out of air.

From the first breath we take, we are counting down to our last.

We inhale and exhale only so many times. Then we stop.

We use some of those breaths to communicate. We exhale words. We breathe out air and meaning.

So why waste our breath if we only get so much of it?

Why waste our words if we only get so many of them?

The Bible is clear that breathing out words is power.

The prime example is what happens when God speaks. In the Book of Genesis, Chapter One, the breath (or “wind”) of God is over the “void” and it is by that breath that God speaks the nothing into something: Life!

Later, the Gospel of John imagines the story of Jesus as a new Genesis:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it” (Gospel of John 1:1-5).

Notice how the story of Jesus begins as Genesis begins (they are, indeed, the same story). Notice how, in Genesis, God breathes/speaks life and light. And notice how the Gospel of John identifies and personifies that breath/Word as Jesus. In both preambles, the breath of God issues forth as Word to bring life into being and make light for all people.

This is a God-power, but it is a power that God gives to human beings, too.

In Genesis 2:7, God “breathed…the breath of life” into human beings. This is the same breath that called forth creation from the void, that said: “Let there be light!” In the “breath of life,” God endows human beings with God’s power to create. This is how God can commission human beings to participate in God-like activity and purpose on earth: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

Likewise, in the Gospel of John, the breath of God enters the corpse of Jesus and brings him back to life (John 20:1-10). What does Jesus do next? He breathes on those who believe in him (20:22-23), giving them a commission that is like Genesis 1:28 in its power of death (condemnation) and life (forgiveness/mercy).

So, then, when we breathe and when we speak, we participate in the power of God. When we speak, we speak with the same breath that creates worlds, raises the dead, and forgives sins. This is power that God clearly means to share with us so that we may share in God’s life and work.

Yet it is power that we so easily corrupt and use for evil or idle purposes.

Maybe this is why the leaders and teachers of the ancient early church of Christ gave so much advice and so many warnings about speech. They knew the Genesis story and the Gospel story. They knew that the breath of Jesus, who rose from the dead, now fills those who claim him as their Christ.

They knew the power that God endowed in human beings, to create life or to destroy it with only their words. So they wrote things like:

“Let your speech always be gracious…” (Colossians 4:6).

“…speak evil of no one…” (Titus 3:2).

“Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak…” (James 1:19).

“Do not speak evil against one another, brothers and sisters” (James 4:11).

“Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God” (1 Peter 4:11).

“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

This post may seem like a “devotional reading” (as we say in my Church of Christ tradition), but I mean it to be an admonition to some of my fellow Christians here in the United States.

The power to speak is the very power of God.

Let us not waste our God-given breath or God-given words on anything less than grace, mercy, and the truth that matters most: The good news that Jesus is the Christ.

Let us not waste our breath on any gospel other than the only gospel we know to be true. Let us not waste our breath on the false gospels that political parties and politicians and peddlers for profit want us to preach in their names. Let us not do it! And let us repent for the times that we let ourselves be prophets and witnesses for anyone less than our Christ.

Let us not waste our breath mocking, slandering, or smearing even our enemies and those who are against us, personal or political. This is a misuse of the breath of God and God will hold us responsible.

“With [our ability to speak] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it, we curse people, made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth comes a blessing and a curse. My brothers and sisters, this ought not to be so!” (James 3:9-10).

We only get so many breaths in our lives, we only get so many words. Let’s not waste them on anything less than the love of God.

Grace and peace.