Occasionally when I am stumped about a subject to write about something happens to give me an idea. Thank you God!! My idea came this past Sunday when the airline we were to fly on for our upcoming ski trip called to cancel and wanted to book us on next day. Needless to say this was unacceptable and would mess up our entire trip. When things like this happen we can choose to 'pop a cork' and explode at the poor agent on the phone, who is only the bearer of this bad news, or we can choose to blow it off and go with the flow. Anger never gets any one anywhere. Whether it is to an innocent defenseless clerk at a store, a waiter or even sad to say some family members and friends who bear the brunt of cutting hurtful remarks at times, anger is just not the way to go. James 1:20 says " The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God." Anger hurts people and breaks things.
What does God's word have to say about the way we respond to people? First let me say we should always make believe Jesus is in line behind us or sitting beside us before we go off on a verbal tirade. If we truly were convicted of what we said being offensive and hurtful to our heavenly father then perhaps some of the 'beating up' on people with words would cease. There is no person on earth who deserves to be talked down to, hurt, and ridiculed. Remember we are told in the Bible we will give account one day for every careless word we have ever uttered.(See Matthew 12:36).
Ephesians 4:2 says "With all lowliness and gentleness with long suffering, bearing with one another in love." Get that! It says to do it 'in love'! Screaming and hurling insults are certainly not loving and I am sure most of us would not talk to Jesus that way. If you think about Jesus being right there with you at all times then it probably brings great pain to Him to hear and see us acting in a less than Christian manner. Verse 7 of this same chapter continues by saying "But to each one of us grace was given, according to the measure of Christ's gift." What is grace? Unmerited favor for one. It means dignified, polite and decent. When someone hurls insults or hurtful speech at us we can chose to lash back or talk to them peacefully and with love. Believe me, this is difficult to do as human nature wants to get back and get even. This is not God's way. Remember it is Satan who wants us to be in constant fights and turmoil as when we are upset we are not showing the fruits of the spirit. If you call yourself a child of God then you need to practice acting like one. If you are married to someone who talks to you ugly just keep responding in grace as hard as it is. Ask God to help you stay cool, calm, and collected.
If you truly follow God's word and study it daily then you can look up the scriptures on anger and words and there are many. If you are one who abuses people with your words stop now and ask God to help you calm down and show Christian love instead. If you have hurled insults at someone say you are sorry.
Ephesians 4:29 says " Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification that it may input grace to the hearers."
Colossians 2:6 says " So as you have received Christ Jesus, walk in Him." Make believe you are talking to your minister and I am pretty sure the ugliness will end. God is way bigger and important than your minister and he is sad when you hurt others verbally. Be an example whether at home or in the marketplace.
PRAYER: Lord help me to be kind to all people. I know sometimes things make us mad but help me Lord to 'take a step back' and think what I am saying. I know hurting others with words is not pleasing to you. Help me always let my speech be seasoned as with salt. In Jesus name. Amen.
Note: Please say a prayer for Denise Carter. She is my friend who originally got me started doing daily devotions over one year ago. She has been in ICU for over a week with legionnaires pneumonia but thank God is getting better and off her ventilator. Keep her and her family in prayers. She lives here in the Huntsville area. Don't talk about it to other people as that only starts gossip but simply just pray..you and God. Thanks...Love you all. Thanks for reading this blog each day.
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