I Said Nothing

[388 words] Robert Benchly once remarked, “Drawing on my fine command of language, I said nothing.” No matter how great your vocabulary may be, sometimes, the right thing to say is nothing. First, if you cannot speak with purity, the best thing that you can say, no matter how large your vocabulary may be, is nothing. We read, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29). Second, if you cannot speak with sweetness, the best thing that you can say, no matter how rich your vocabulary may be, is nothing. We read, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake…