The Power of Privileged Words

Over at Christ and Pop Culture, Drew Dixon writes some powerful words about, well, words, in the wake of the Redskins kerfuffle:

A gospel-centered perspective on words calls us to speak in such a way that prioritizes the impact of our words on our neighbors over our personal perception of them. Perhaps the greatest lie we have convinced ourselves of concerning our words is that they are not very powerful. James, however said that the tongue is like the rudder of a massive ship; we don’t think about it all that much but it is an incredibly powerful tool (James 3:4). We must recognize that our words are far more powerful than we think, failing to do so means continuing to hurt women and men made in God’s image. For instance, Paul commanded the church at Ephesus to “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).

Read the rest here.