Words are like Toothpaste. 

To set the stage for my lesson, I asked for two volunteers, and flashed some green to entice them.  Rolling out two poster boards, I handed the young athletes a tube of Close Up toothpaste, challenging each to be the first to squeeze out the contents.  The winner got a five-dollar bill.  But then I pulled a hundred-dollar bill out of my jeans pocket, and said, ‘Now if you can get the toothpaste back in the tube, I will give you this!’  They both looked down to consider the task momentarily, but instantly saw the futility in that endeavor.

Toothpaste squeezed out of the tube cannot be put back into the tube. 

        Words are like that.  Once said, words cannot be unsaid. 

Sure, apologies can be made, but that does not erase the impact of the words.  Once texted, they cannot be un-texted.  ‘And pictures?  Oh, don’t get me started about what I have seen and read on Instagram!  Did you know that your girlfriend’s mom sees that?  Oh, and did you know that athletes are being denied college scholarships because of what they have posted on social media?’ This made them think.

[It has been a little more than two years since I last spoke to the group of athletes at our local public high school, but today I was invited back to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes club I had started.  Can I tell you—it is not easy to get up before a group of high school students and attempt to teach them about something that matters to them, and to God, and hold their attention!  I was so thankful to see how the club is thriving.  Planning to finish a morning briefing from Matthew 14, I decided to share this instead today. Seems people like hearing about the students.]

We had probably about 80 students in the gym—from diminutive female gymnasts to beefy football players and everything in between.  And yes, I was able to hold their attention.  The redheaded two-sport athlete who got on his phone made the unfortunate decision to sit right in the front, and forgot that I knew him from Little League days … unlucky for him.   

‘You know, the one thing over which you have control in your life is your tongue.  Your parents can make you go to bed, your coach can ride you hard in practice to work a set play, but only you control what comes out of your mouth.  With it, you can build people up or tear them down.’ 

Friends, this has such application to every single one of us.  Do we encourage others with our words?  Do we ‘speak life’?  Think.

I continued, ‘Maybe some of you feel pretty good right now because you do not say mean things, or things you regret.  But can I ask you--how many of you ever complain?’  Almost every hand went up.  See, it wasn’t too personal to admit that, so it was safe.  ‘But sooner or later, your friends, your associates, your teammates, get sick of hearing complaining.’  Why not take the 21-day challenge of no complaints?  See, while what we say comes from what we think about, i.e. ‘out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks’¹… it turns out, that what we say also influences our thoughts and attitudes.  Determining to rid ourselves of complaining changes us, and it changes others’ perceptions of us.² (both of which are important for the Christ follower!)

‘And whose words should matter most to us?’  I held up my Bible, ‘we find out how we got here, where we are going, and what God thinks of us in here.’  You and I were created in the image of God’³, different, unique from all others.  This is where you get answers, where you find truth.’ 

Rest assured, there are young people who are looking for God, high school students who are endeavoring to walk with God . . . they are out there!  Pray for our youth, pray for the generation coming of age, won’t you?  And as for their words, and our words, pray that God will help us.  As the psalmist prayed, ‘May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.’⁴

Take care with what you say,

and take care with whose words you take to heart, my dear ones.

Words are like toothpaste—once they are out of the tube, there is no getting them back.

1 – Luke 6.45; Matthew 12.34

2 – “I Went 21 Days without Complaining and it Changed my Life”, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tim-ferriss/no-complaint-experiment_b_5610433.html

3 – Genesis 1.26-27

4 – Psalm 19.14