By Charles R. Swindoll
When Jesus sat down on that hill to deliver His soul, little did His listeners realize they were about to hear the most famous sermon ever preached. There would be hundreds of great ones and thousands of good ones in the centuries to follow, but none to compare to His immortal Sermon on the Mount.
Why? What was it that set it apart? Today, we have no audio tape recording that would give us the sound and inflections of His voice, so it was not that that made His message memorable. Nor do we have it on film, allowing us the opportunity to study His gestures or watch His face. Obviously, it was not those things that made the sermon significant.
What was it, then? It was His words. The one ingredient permanently preserved for all time was just that -- His choice of words, His placement of words, His economy of words, even His eloquent turn of a phrase. Blended together, they form a colorful and timeless tapestry that defies duplication. This should not surprise us, for a word remains the most powerful of all four-letter words.
Advertisement
The Impact of Words Fitly Spoken
"Words fitly spoken," wrote the wise man of old, "are like apples of gold in settings of silver." Like Jell-O, concepts assume the mold of the words into which they are poured. Who has not been stabbed awake by the use of a particular word -- or combination of words? Who has not found relief from a well-timed word spoken at the precise moment of need? Who has not been crushed in spirit through another's word? And who has not gathered fresh courage because a word of hope penetrated the fog of self-doubt? Such words become embedded in our brains like shrapnel from a grenade; in many ways, they remain forever.
Colors fade.
Shorelines erode.
Temples crumble.
Empires fall.
But "words fitly spoken" endure.
"Fitly spoken" words are right words -- the precise words for whatever the occasion. Mark Twain, a unique wordsmith, once wrote: "The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug."
And what power those "right words" contain! Some punch like a jab to the jaw, others comfort like a down pillow, still others threaten like the cold, steel barrel of a .38 Smith and Wesson. One set of words purifies our thoughts, transplanting us, at least for an instant, to the throne room of God, and another set of words ignites lust, tempting us to visit the house of a harlot. Some bring tears to our eyes in a matter of seconds, others bring fear that makes the hair on the back of our necks stand on end.
Returning momentarily to the pen of David's greater son, we find ourselves smiling one moment and frowning the next:
As a ring of gold in a swine's snout,
So is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.
(
Proverbs 11:22)
When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you.
And put a knife to your throat,
If you are a man of great appetite.