860.3 million. 860.3 million. 860.3 million is the approximate number of words we will speak in a lifetime, well that is unless you are like me and are constantly talking whether someone is listening or not. 860.3 million is a significant number, according to an article titled, “How Many Words Does the Average Person Speak in a Lifetime”, by Alexander Atkins, this is the equivalent of reading the Oxford English Dictionary 14.5 times! Of course, this will vary depending on a person's lifespan and the speaking interactions they partake in throughout the course of their lives. However, when our heart ceases beating and our brains no longer can function on their own, will your 860.3 million words have any significance?
As college students, we often refuse to think about the time when we will draw our last breath, but as scary as it is, the day could come at any moment. Words are one of the most powerful gifts God gave humans, but so often we abuse our gift. So often instead of using our words righteously, we use them to tear down and destroy others. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me,” is the farthest sentence from the truth that has ever been spoken. Jesus warned us of the power of the tongue, when he says in James 3:6, “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” Our words can be our greatest asset or our biggest liability.
Later in James 3:9, he states: “With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father, and with it, we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.” We so often will tell people how wonderful it is to be a follower of the Creator, but then turn around and say hurtful, awful,degrading things about our brothers and sisters.
When we cross over into judgment will God look at us and be disappointed with how we used the precious words he gave us? Will He regret giving us the talent to speak since we negated His command in Matthew 28:19-20. Will the Son of God look at us and hang His head in sadness because the person He died for, couldn't die to himself and use his tongue to glorify the God that made him, instead of trying to be half in the world and half for God. WE NEED TO WAKE UP. We as Christians are too comfortable. We should be going out every single day and telling everyone we come in contact with about Jesus, but what do we do, we cower in fear. We are scared they will pick on us, not like us, or make fun of what we believe, but SO WHAT. WE NEED TO WAKE UP.
We have a VOCABULARY full of words put here by our Lord to use to bring people to Him, we have a BRAIN that is developing every day, and we have the LOVE of a Savior that will help us up even if we fall down.
So when it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done? Will your 860.3 million words be filler words or will they be compelling,influential, and spiritual words? You aren't promised tomorrow but you are promised right now, take the words that God has put in your head and on your heart and let them shine for His glory. Let your words, as small as a rudder they may be, steer yourself and others toward our Savior, our Creator, and our God, because He is truly indescribable.
