Weaponized Words

Proverbs 25:18"A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow."You've seen this scene in a hundred movies.The witness walks into the courtroom.Raises their right hand."Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?"We usually focus on the word truth.But lately, I've been thinking about the word witness.Because a witness has power.Somebody's reputation.Their livelihood.Their relationships.Maybe even their freedom can be sitting on the other side of your words.That's why Proverbs 25:18 hit me:"A man that beareth false witness against his neighbour is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow." (KJV)First of all I picked the KJV on purpose just because of that word maul... what a word!"I shall maul you!" Gotta love the KJV!But also notice that Solomon doesn't say the false witness HAS a weapon.He says the false witness IS a weapon.A maul crushes up close.A sword cuts anything within reach.And an arrow?An arrow can wound somebody from a distance.Sometimes before they even know who fired it.But false witness isn't only standing in court and telling a bald-faced lie.Sometimes I can tell you exactly what happened…and still not tell you the whole story.I can leave out the part where I was wrong.I can exaggerate what somebody did to me.I can tell it from an angle that makes me the hero and guarantees you know who the villain is.And I've lived long enough to revisit some of my own stories.People I once saw only through the lens of how difficult they were…I can now appreciate for some of the difficult lessons they taught me.Maybe they pushed me deeper.Demanded more.Wouldn't let my charisma carry me where my character still needed to grow.That doesn't mean every painful thing becomes okay.It means maturity can change the narrator.And sometimes wisdom asks us to tell the story again…without the weapons.Because every story has a narrator.The question is:Is the narrator armed?REMEMBER: Don't weaponize a story just because you're holding the microphone.PRAYER: Lord, disarm my words and make my witness completely truthful.TODAY'S CHALLENGE: Think of one person you've made the villain in a story you tell. Tell the story once more today — this time with the whole truth in it. Get full access to Hey Fred Lynch! at heyfredlynch.substack.com/subscribe