Dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster recently came under attack. According to company president John M. Morse, protesters demanded that a specific word be deleted because it is derogatory and offensive. Morse pointed out that dictionary publishers don’t invent words or decide the meanings that words will have. A dictionary merely lists and defines the words of our language. Society does the inventing and reinventing of words.

Morse concluded by suggesting that rather than protesting the dictionary’s treatment of words, “We can choose our own words responsibly and protest the use of the word by those around us and by influential people in the media, the entertainment industry, and elsewhere.” That’s good advice!

Words are important to God. Jesus said that we will be judged for “every idle word” we speak (Mt. 12:36). And in the book of James, 15 of the 108 verses are devoted to the use of the tongue and the words we speak.

We are in a war over words. Let’s be on the defensive against any offensive or unloving terms in our own dictionary of usage. Remember, if God takes our words seriously, so should we. It’s a battle worth waging.