Powerful Words (Part 1 of 4): God, Soul, Eternity - A Bible Study

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Most of us heard that as kids. But we all know it isn't true. The Bible says that "some people make cutting remarks" (Proverbs 12:18), and that "the tongue can bring death or life" (Proverbs 18:21). The words others speak over us shape us. The words we repeat to ourselves often shape us even more. And the living Word of God changes us for eternity.

This is Part One of the four-part Powerful Words series: Part One (God, Soul, Eternity), Part Two (Time, Now, Right), Part Three (Sin, Hypocrisy, Truth), and Part Four (Love, Heaven, Jesus). You can use this study on your own or with a small group. Read the passages, think through the questions, and ask God which words He wants to plant in you.

Big Idea: Our words carry the power of life and death, and the truest words we can fill our minds with point us to a great God, a priceless soul, and an eternal future in Christ.

Read first: Psalm 95:1-7, Matthew 16:24-26, Matthew 25:31-46

The Story Behind Powerful Words

At the start of each year, many believers pray and ask God for a single word to focus on: an area where He wants to grow or change us. That is a prayer practice, not a promise of special revelation. Whatever word we sense, we test it against Scripture.

Before my mom passed away, she left behind a list she called "Powerful Words." Each word came with a passage she chose to be read with it. This series walks through her list, three words at a time.

Why do words matter so much? God created by speaking (Genesis 1:3). Scripture calls itself "alive and powerful" (Hebrews 4:12). And Jesus Himself is called the Word: "In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). The most powerful Word of all is a Person.

The Greatest Word Is God

My mom's passage for the first word is Psalm 95, a call to worship. At its center is this line: "For the Lord is a great God, a great King above all gods" (Psalm 95:3).

A Latin word for "greatest" is maximus, the root of our word "maximum." Latin is not the language of the Bible, but the picture fits. God is not one great thing among many. Everything else is measured against Him. He is also first and last. Jesus says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 22:13). He was there before anything began, and He will have the final word.

When God is the greatest word in our lives, our problems shrink to their proper size. So do the words other people speak over us. A careless remark or an old label can feel enormous until we set it beside the great King above all gods.

Reflect:

• How does Psalm 95 describe God? Which description stands out to you?
• What changes when God, not your problems or other people's opinions, is the greatest word in your life?

The Deepest Word Is Soul

Jesus asks one of the most searching questions in the Bible: "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" (Matthew 16:26)

A Latin word for soul is anima, which means "life" or "breath." The Greek word Matthew uses, psychē, carries the same idea: your very life, your whole self. The soul is deep because it is the core of who we are, the part of us made to know God. In the beginning, God formed the first man from dust and "breathed the breath of life" into him (Genesis 2:7).

Notice when Jesus asked this question. He had just told His disciples that He would suffer and die (Matthew 16:21). Many of us live on the surface, chasing paychecks, purchases, and approval. None of it can fill a soul. The cross shows what your soul is worth to God. He gave His Son to save it (John 3:16).

Reflect:

• Why do you think Jesus compares a soul to "the whole world"?
• What is one "surface" pursuit that crowds out care for your soul?

The Longest Word Is Eternity

The Latin infinitas means without limit. In Matthew 25, Jesus describes the day He will come in glory, and He ends with these words: "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46). The same Greek word, aiōnios, describes both. Eternity is real in both directions, and it is the most sobering word on the list.

But Jesus did not come to frighten us. He came so that "everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). And eternal life is more than endless time. Jesus defines it as a relationship: "to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth" (John 17:3). Scripture says God "has planted eternity in the human heart" (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

That changes how we see today: "the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever" (2 Corinthians 4:18). If you have lost someone you love, this word may feel tender. It sits on a list left by a mother who has gone before. For those who belong to Jesus, death is not the final word.

Reflect:

• How does knowing that eternity is real change the way you see today?
• According to John 17:3, what is eternal life? How is that different from how people often picture it?

How These Words Point to Jesus

All three words lead to Him. The great God of Psalm 95 has made Himself known in Jesus, who "is the visible image of the invisible God" (Colossians 1:15). The soul Jesus said was worth more than the whole world is the soul He went to the cross to save. And the eternal life He offers is not a place without Him. It is knowing Him, forever.

That is why a series about powerful words begins and ends with the Word who became human and made His home among us (John 1:14). Every true word on my mom's list points back to Him.

Live It Out

Try a simple practice drawn straight from Scripture: the Truth Exchange. Paul writes that God's weapons "knock down the strongholds of human reasoning" and that "we capture their rebellious thoughts and teach them to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). A stronghold can be a lie we have believed so long it feels like fact.

1. Name the lie. Write down one negative or false thing you, or others, often say about you.
2. Find the truth. Search Scripture for what God says instead. Life.Church's Find Your Words tool, a concordance, or the search in a Bible app can help.
3. Write the truth. Put the verse and its reference on the back of an index card.
4. Speak it and pray it. Read it aloud each day this week and turn it into a prayer.

These are not positive-thinking affirmations. We are agreeing with what God has already said (Romans 12:2). While you're at it, ask God for one word to focus on this year.

Verse to remember: "The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences." (Proverbs 18:21, NLT)

A Prayer

Lord, You are a great God, a great King above all. My soul is precious to You, so precious that You gave Your Son for me. Teach me to live with eternity in view. Show me the lies I have believed, and plant Your true words in my heart. In Jesus' name, amen.

Going Deeper

• Read about the power of the tongue in James 3:1-12.
• Meet Jesus, the Word made flesh, in John 1:1-18.
• Watch BibleProject's Nephesh / Soul video.

Next part: Powerful Words, Part Two: Time, Now, Right