Healing Words (Part One)

I have been giving a lot of thought lately to Proverbs 18:21. This verse has much to say about the power of the tongue. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (NKJV). The same verse appears this way in the NLTt:

“The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.”

Throughout the years, I have counseled many who were wounded with words in their childhood and who are still feeling the fallout in their adult life. As a result, many are longing to hear some nourishing and life-giving words of healing and hope. This week I would like to share three stories from the Bible that highlight healing words.

John Mark’s story—Mark was on a roller coaster ride in his life of Christian service. He was at the top when he was invited to join Paul and Barnabas on Paul’s first missionary journey. Mark served as an assistant or a helper. We might call him an intern today. After a great experience in Cyprus, the team traveled north to Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Perhaps because things were tougher there, Mark left and returned to Jerusalem. He was at a low point. We discover how low when we read about the argument Paul and Barnabas had about taking him along on their second missionary journey. It was a debate about taking a “quitter” along. The end result: a split. This resulted in two teams—Paul and Silas, Mark and Barnabas.

Many years later, when Paul was in prison awaiting execution, he wrote a final letter to Timothy. He was lonely and wanted Timothy to come to Rome—but not alone! “Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). Useful. It’s today’s healing word. It replaces quitter, a word that kills, with the Greek word eucrestor. That word is a combination of the word for “good” and the word for “service.” Mark heard healing words. Paul considered him useful, profitable, and helpful. The Message paraphrases it this way: “He’ll be my right-hand man.” That’s a lot better than to be considered a quitter.

There are a lot of wounding words out there. Maybe you were on the receiving end of words such as loser or worthless. May Mark’s healing experience be yours as well!

Next time we’ll look at a story from Jesus’ life.