Words are charged with power

To a Jew a word was not merely a sound; it did things. As Dr. John Paterson puts it in The Book That is Alive: "The spoken word in Hebrew was fearfully alive. It was not merely a vocable or sound dropped heedlessly from unthinking lips. It was a unit of energy charged with power. It is energized for weal or for woe."

William Barclay,

The Revelation of John, vol. 2

This concept is one I knew but that "unit of energy charged with power" has rung in my brain since I read it. We know this deep in our bones. It's why we get so hurt and strike back if someone insults us. It's why our political conversations are so charged and so many people seem to be angry and ready to take offense. We aren't guarding our tongues, our words, our power, enough.