Words Matter: Say What You Mean, and Mean What You Say

Language matters. Words matter. Your words matter.

Why Do Your Words Matter?

Words are powerful. We’re made in the image of the One who is the Word, who spoke the world into existence. And while we may not create matter ex nihilo (out of nothing) with our words, by God’s design, words have power. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” (Prov. 18:21)

Words matter because they shape our thinking. What we hear — especially over and over — shapes our thoughts. That’s why we’re told that the godly man “meditates on [God’s] law day and night” (Ps. 1:2) It’s why Scripture tells us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17), to be “transformed by the renewing of [our] mind[s]” (Rom. 12:2), and to think/meditate/dwell on what is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous, and praiseworthy (Ph’p. 4:8).

Language matters because words carry ideas. How can we think about what’s true while routinely speaking in ways that are untrue — even subtly — or which obscure the truth? When our choice of words communicates a worldview that is out of step with God’s, we’re building and reinforcing that unbiblical worldview.

The enemy is very savvy at this. Political liberals are often very good at this. Conservatives and many Christians can often be naïve in this arena. Propaganda works because someone with an agenda chooses the words, chooses the messaging, chooses the language. That language shapes the narrative and impacts public opinion. We see this at work, for example, when they make abortion sound positive by calling it pro-choice rather than pro-abortion and when they make opposition to homosexuality sound negative by talking about “homophobia.”

Your words matter because they shape your worldview, signal your “buy-in” to someone’s agenda, and contribute to the shaping of the worldviews of others you speak to. Our words have power to make us think of good as evil and evil as good, and/or to distract us from the reality of a given situation by hiding it behind euphemism.

Words identify and differentiate — and they can be used to do so truthfully or deceptively. Often the deception is intentional, but we can also get sucked into the deception unintentionally, which is why it’s important to pay attention and make intentional choices to select language that communicates godly ideas. Our words should convey that evil is evil, that good is good. Our language should not cover over things that are offensive to God — and thus ought to be offensive to us — by “prettying it up” in an attempt to sound unoffensive. Our word choice should not convey “buy-in” to the world’s agenda.

Are You Living Like Your Words Matter?

Are we putting up with things we shouldn’t because we’re afraid to call them what they are? Are we accepting the world’s concepts because we’ve never stopped to think through the ramifications of their terminology?

Our government is growing more powerful and more invasive day by day. The Church, meanwhile, is growing increasingly complacent. Are we enabling ourselves to be lukewarm by using “comfortable” terminology?

Let’s redefine a few terms:

social services = state organization designed to steal parents’ God-given authority over their children
what they do = legalized kidnapping (and invasion of privacy)
“public” schools = government schools (more neutral) or humanist temples/indoctrination centers (more wholly truthful) or government-funded babysitting (often more relevant, since the “education” element is questionable)
what they do = Secular Humanist indoctrination
medical community “education” = pharmaceutical propaganda (Medical schools are funded in large part by the pharmaceutical companies. Can you say, “conflict of interest”?)
21st-century American “health care system” = sick-care system
modern Bible paraphrases (like The Message) = _________’s Bible commentary (It may not be a problem, but it’s a commentary, not a Bible.)
certain churchgoers who follow after certain men/women: _________ groupies
mother-to-be = a woman who is not a mother yet (So is her baby a baby yet or not? If he is, she is not a mother-to-be, she’s a MOTHER.)

What about these?

“pro-choice” (pro-abortion or, better, still, pro-baby-murder)
“real father/mother” (birth father/mother or biological father/mother)
“birthing person” (mother!)
“gender affirming care” (gender denial, gender-rejecting intervention, sometimes genital mutilation)
“dog mom” (dog owner; pets are not children)

I’m sure we could all name a few more if we stopped to think about it. But just take a moment and think about this: Are you comfortable with anything that should make you uncomfortable? Are you enabling yourself to stay comfortable with it by calling it by a euphemistic name? Call it what it is! Are you using a term designed to neutralize emotion where thinking either positively or negatively about a thing is biblically good, or a term designed to make good feel bad or bad feel good? Shift the tone by choosing different words. Are you furthering an unbiblical worldview by using an unbiblical term? Find a new one! (“Expectant mother,” anyone?)

Also see Brandy’s post about “overpopulation.”

Originally posted 24 Feb 2006. Updated 15 Feb 2025.