16 The labor of the righteous leads to life, The wages of the wicked to sin.
17 He who keeps instruction is in the way of life, But he who refuses correction goes astray.
18 Whoever hides hatred has lying lips, And whoever spreads slander is a fool.
19 In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, But he who restrains his lips is wise.
These verses provide a nice contrast between the way that leads to life, the path that pleases God, and the way that leads to destruction. We can be challenged to be mindful of the instruction of the Lord, following His words and keeping His principles in our hearts. In the economy of words, according to verse 19, we are called to show restraint. I think that entails thinking before we speak and recognizing the capability for our words to build up or tear down, to glorify God or to be detrimental to Him and to ourselves.
In Matthew 12, Jesus challenges us to make good use of the words we speak.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
There are several types of social media that I utilize in association with The Meeting House radio show - there are 2 blogs that I write; one is The Front Room, which features devotional thoughts and commentary from the program. The other is The 3, with three stories of relevance to the Christian community. I also have a Facebook page and a Twitter feed. Each of these forms of media have their own unique advantages.
With Twitter, you can send a simple and effective message, and the 140-character limit forces you to be very directed in what you say. Through the use of hashtags and links, you are able to join a stream of information and hopefully have that information shared.
Well, there was a piece on the Bloomberg site that appeared a couple of weeks ago that was intriguing. The article announced that Twitter users would be gaining "more freedom to compose longer messages." It said that Twitter would soon "stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages, according to a person familiar with the matter. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. Links currently take up 23 characters, even after Twitter automatically shortens them. The company declined to comment."
That announcement was confirmed about a week later by Twitter Senior Project Manager Todd Sherman on Twitter's blog site. He wrote:
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In Matthew 12, Jesus challenges us to make good use of the words we speak.
35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.
36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.
37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
There are several types of social media that I utilize in association with The Meeting House radio show - there are 2 blogs that I write; one is The Front Room, which features devotional thoughts and commentary from the program. The other is The 3, with three stories of relevance to the Christian community. I also have a Facebook page and a Twitter feed. Each of these forms of media have their own unique advantages.
With Twitter, you can send a simple and effective message, and the 140-character limit forces you to be very directed in what you say. Through the use of hashtags and links, you are able to join a stream of information and hopefully have that information shared.
Well, there was a piece on the Bloomberg site that appeared a couple of weeks ago that was intriguing. The article announced that Twitter users would be gaining "more freedom to compose longer messages." It said that Twitter would soon "stop counting photos and links as part of its 140-character limit for messages, according to a person familiar with the matter. The change could happen in the next two weeks, said the person who asked not to be named because the decision isn’t yet public. Links currently take up 23 characters, even after Twitter automatically shortens them. The company declined to comment."
That announcement was confirmed about a week later by Twitter Senior Project Manager Todd Sherman on Twitter's blog site. He wrote:
In the coming months we’ll make changes to simplify Tweets including what counts toward your 140 characters, so for instance, @names in replies and media attachments (like photos, GIFs, videos, and polls) will no longer “use up” valuable characters.He also stated: "We’re exploring ways to make existing uses easier and enable new ones, all without compromising the unique brevity and speed that make Twitter the best place for live commentary, connections, and conversations."
So, soon, we Twitter users can write more - if you are putting a list of handles in a Tweet calling attention to certain others, that can use up valuable space, and those links and attachments also cut down on your verbage. So, we get more characters to work with - but, the question is, do we really need them? How will people use those extra words we may get?
Twitter teaches us to keep things short and simple - you really have to think about how you say something lest you violate the 140-character limit. But, in Twitter, as in life, are too many words necessarily a good thing?
And, that's a character lesson for us today. Jesus taught us about the power of words - we can be justified or condemned by them. James gave stern warning about the power of the tongue. Proverbs teaches us about the relationship of the abundance of words to sin. A good "word" for us today is that we can place limitations on our usage of words, keeping in minds that it is possible to say too much.
Reliance on the Holy Spirit can enable us to control what we say. He can help to shape what we say and how we say it. Words can be powerful in expressing ourselves, encouraging a person, and in providing insight and instruction. But, words can also contain a power to express ourselves in a way we did not intend, or to tear down someone else, or to communicate incorrectly. We have to make sure that we are good stewards of our words, in line with God's Word.
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