POWER OF POSITIVE SPEECH
Second
of five in Wholeness Series
Leviticus
14:4
Leviticus
14:4: “…the priest shall order that two
live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be brought to the
one to be cleansed.”
We saw how Naaman was cured of his
skin disease by obeying Elisha’s command to wash seven times in the Jordan
River in Dis-ease devotion. Naaman had trouble with the sin of pride
which caused his skin disease. The
priest’s next business is to purify the person he just declared “clean.”
Why two birds in the opening
Scripture? One bird was to be
slaughtered. (God commands that only blood
sacrifice forgives sin). The second bird
was set free in this ritual, or rite of purification. Birds were chosen for purification of this
sin because they are creatures that constantly chirp and chatter. The person’s sin that caused the skin disease
was inappropriate speech. Skin diseases
made people “unclean” in Old Testament times.
They were not welcome in the company of others.
Why was the second bird set
free? Since the one chattering bird was
sacrificed for forgiving wrong talk, the second bird is to teach that speech
wasn’t the problem at all. God blessed
people with speech. Speech is an asset. Speech is the quality that allows people to
care for and love one another. The
second bird represents wonderful things, powerful things that are achieved with
the spoken word. The second bird flew away
chattering happily.
See the lesson linked below for the
priest’s ritual for cleansing and purification.
If there were only one bird that was
killed, people would get the mistaken idea that all speech is wrong. That’s not true at all. The lesson this bird purification teaches is
that it’s the words we choose and how
they affect others that matter to God.
Right words=right speech=righteousness.
Positive speech is power.
Here are examples of positive speech
that bring God’s light: 1) Prayer of thanks
and praise to God, 2) Sharing
Scripture, 3) I love you, 4) I’m sorry,
5) Thank you, 6) How are
you?, 7) You look great!, 8) God bless you, 9) You can do this!, 10) “Amen” shows agreement to shared speech. Let’s sprinkle a dose of powerful positive
speech into our daily lives.
Chattering positive speech replaces
gossip and negativity.
Take
Home Nugget
Mother
Teresa once said, “every word that doesn’t increase the light of God adds to
the darkness.” If only people were as
careful as what spews out of their mouths as what they put into the mouths! We just learned powerful positive speech that
increases God’s light; let’s speak them!
Not every thought is worthy to be said.
Send light into another’s head.
J.D.
Griffith
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