Have you been BING'd today?

Have you ever lost something and while looking for that something become distracted by the sight of something else along the way? That happens to me all the time on my computer. I check email from a friend going to “Women of Faith” in Tampa, I open my web browser to see when “Women of Faith” will be near my city, one of the speakers is unfamiliar to me so I click on her link to read more. You get the idea.

I know it has NEVER happened to you.

Microsoft has recently produced a number of commercials for Bing, their search engine. Each scenario shows how a single word triggers a new sentence or thought in the person who hears it, often taking the conversation in totally unintended places. Watch them here if you trust yourself not to get distracted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0f8X_SOVjA&feature=channel
That is exactly what happened to me this morning, only I was not on the computer, I was reading my Bible. Follow me.

“Even a fool is thought wise if she keeps silent, and discerning if she holds her tongue” (Tongue)“The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Fruit) “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Control) “If anyone can control her tongue, it proves that she has perfect control over herself in every other way. We can make a large horse turn around and go wherever we want by means of a small bit in his mouth” (Mouth) “May the words of my mouth and the meditation in my heart be pleasing to You, O Lord” (Pleasing) “When a woman's ways are pleasing to the LORD,He makes even her enemies live at peace with her” (Peace) “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Heart) “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of your heart spring the issues of life” (Life) “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life” (Word) “Your Word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against You” (Sin) “If anyone does not sin by what she says, she is a perfect woman” (Perfect) “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
BING

…but words can never hurt me.

An email has been circulating that proposes a cough method of self CPR. It says that if you recognize the signs of a heart attack you can do cough CPR on yourself before you lose consciousness. I am not promoting this, as the success of this method is questionable and snopes.com claims it is false.

We cannot make our own heart beat, we can however, destroy it. We have the power to kill and destroy our hearts all on our own but we do not have the power to bring it back to life on our own. We do however have both the power of life, and death, in our tongues. Our words have the power to bring life to a person, to a conversation, or to our own soul. Remember saying the words “I do,” did that not change your life forever? Or hearing the verdict, “Guilty!” would that not change your world? Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (NIV).

Our everyday words have the power of life and death as well. When gossip is sweeping through a conversation and you stop it with a phrase, does that not bring life to the person who was being destroyed? When someone in your family is telling you their dream and vision and you open your mouth and stomp on it, does that bring life or death to the dream? My own personal snopes.me would discredit the old saying, “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.” Words bring health and healing, or death and destruction, to those who speak them and to those that hear them.

Want to know how you’re doing in the verbal life and death department? Look at the fruit, the outcome, of your words. The Message Bible puts it like this, “Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose.” Whatever you choose will have an outcome. “Pleasant words are …health to the body” (Prov 16:24). Speaking life and health to others and yourself, now THAT is self CPR!