“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” (Proverbs 15:1-4, NASB)

One of the modern talking points is advocacy for action on climate change. According to the UN website, climate change “refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Such shifts can be natural, due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions. But since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.” Whether this is true or not, there is something more dangerous than the disastrous state of Earth’s climate. It is that Earth’s climate is sinful, anti-God, and delusional, and it is becoming more so. One clear sign of this truth is how angry we get and how we show our rage. Today’s passage says,

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. The tongue of the wise makes knowledge acceptable, but the mouth of fools spouts folly. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good. A soothing tongue is a tree of life, but perversion in it crushes the spirit.”

These words confirmed my belief that our thoughtless, cruel, and hurtful words are the cause of everything going wrong in our world. It does not mean that if we speak with truth and love, our world will become holy and sinless. Our world is evil and will face judgment because of our sins, and it will stay that way until Jesus, our Prince of peace, returns and establishes his kingdom. However, it does mean that we can make a great difference in the climate of our world—in our homes, our churches, our neighborhoods, our cities, and our nations—through our edifying words.

Verse 1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Every environment we walk into has its own feeling or mood. When we walk into our homes, our schools, our churches, our jobs, we can tell whether people are happy, stressed, or angry. We often think we cannot change how a room feels, but we can. Many times, people around us are angry or upset. This can be caused by their own actions or the actions of others. When someone yells at us or speaks unkindly, our natural reaction is to get angry back. We want to match their tone with our reactions. Sometimes it doesn’t even have to be “harsh words.” We can use “gentle words,” but if we say them with sarcasm, it becomes the same thing. The phrase that Solomon used is “gentle answer.” It refers to how we respond to what is happening. It is not just our words, but also our attitude, gestures, and tone.

The Bible warns us that replying to sharp words with sharp words only adds gasoline to the fire. Instead, when we choose to speak with a “gentle answer,” we can break the cycle of anger. God gives us the choice of how to use our words every day. I don’t expect everyone in our city or nation to speak with a gentle answer, but if followers of Christ practice it, we can begin to change our climate from anger to peace, from folly to knowledge, from evil to good, and from death to life. And who knows if changing our climate with our words will make our planet healthier and cleaner, too? Let’s change the climate of our homes, churches, and communities with our words.