What Do Your Fingers Say?

Many of us “talk” more with our fingers than our tongues. Do we sometimes type and text without thinking?

Years ago a large telecommunications company had an ad campaign based on the slogan “Let your fingers do the walking.” The idea was that your fingers could walk their way through the Yellow Pages and then dial your phone so you didn’t have to walk to find important information.

Today our fingers do so much more. In this age of instant communication and social media, our fingers do the talking.

But what do our fingers say?

Words with wisdom

The Bible is full of instruction regarding our words and communicating with others. It is of great importance to God.

Consider one thing Jesus Christ said about our words: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:35-37).

He set the bar very high!

The book of Proverbs alone has dozens of verses telling us how to use our tongues, lips and speech. We learn, “In the multitude of words sin is not lacking, but he who restrains his lips is wise” (Proverbs 10:19). We are also taught, “Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles” (Proverbs 21:23).

These and many other verses tell us that we need to carefully consider what we say.

We know that we are responsible for using our words to demonstrate our care for each other. What we say is a reflection of how we feel. If our words are kind and considerate, they reveal the outgoing concern we have for others. If, on the other hand, our comments are thoughtless and cruel, we know that we will answer to God for those words.

Typing without thinking

With today’s electronic communication, we spend a great deal of time using words, or, rather, typing or texting words. Our fingers do the “talking.” We are constantly typing responses to posts on social media, replying to instant messages and writing various emails, sometimes without much thought.

Do we consider that the responsibility we have to govern our speech also applies to our electronic messages? Are we equally concerned about our Facebook posts or tweets or emails?

Sometimes we hasten to respond to some post or comment online and fail to fully consider that our words are not what they should be. The Bible says that we will give an account for all that we say and do. This obviously includes thoughtless comments we might post on social media.

The apostle Paul tells us to “let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one” (Colossians 4:6).

Let’s make sure that when our fingers are doing the talking, those comments reflect the concern we are to demonstrate.

Scott Lord and his wife, Monica, live in Upstate New York where they serve the Buffalo and Central New York congregations of the Church of God, a Worldwide Association.

For more about communication, see:

• A Word to the Wise
• The Basics of Meaningful Conversation 101