Jesus… says it’s murder when we destroy people with our words. It’s murder when we put people down and treat them as insignificant.
~Rebecca Manley Pippert
For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
~ from Luke 6
Oh beloved, it is true. There is no going back. The words we say are the most powerful thing that we can do. A thermonuclear weapon may decimate a city, but that bomb was built by the word and order and design of the people who thought such destruction was a good idea.
And the desperate lie that many of us were told many years ago in our childhood was that sticks and stones might break our bones, but that words would never hurt us. And no matter how many times we repeated it, this insane chanting of denial was akin to protecting ourselves from the Bomb with a baseball hat and sunglasses.
Yet, just as hurtful as words can be, they can bring life. And actually no other thing can bring this most precious thing. The tongue is indeed the most powerful instrument there is.
This fool of a writer is very able to say things he wishes he did not – and sometimes does. My tongue is very often out of control. Regardless, G_d has gotten a strong enough hold on my heart, that the vast majority of the time, what passes out of my heart and across my tongue are words of truth and life and blessing and hope and love.
And as the One who spoke existence into existence gets a deeper hold on me, i do indeed feel the painful power of the words of others as they dig into me. Oh, it is not like the words are going to break me, for i am already dead. But the truth is that i am beginning to understand what it means when it said that Jesus was a man of sorrows.
Most people simply do not get it. And almost as many of them never will. Most simply think that life is about them and their own feelings. And most people will say whatever comes to mind without a care for the consequences or the damage that they do to others. They will take offense at anything convenient and spill their own sickness back out of their own inner being onto others.
It is here that we – each of us – have a choice. Will we swallow and regurgitate the poison that others spill on us? Or, will we simply stand in the full-armor that G_d has provided and Love the poor soul lashing out at us?
This week, this writer has had people very close to him compare him to a child abuser in one situation, an adulterous / lying /threatening man in another, and the same people have scorned and disdained his relationship with Jesus because of his words of blessing – and his investment of time in getting to know this same Jesus more closely. It has been like a perfect trio of condemnation and rejection and hurt.
Now, Jesus’ family thought He was crazy – and the crowds screamed that He had a demon (and He had neither). Surely, a man like me, is a but a man. And Jesus was, is, and will be the perfect G_d-man, forever. But just as surely, this same perfect Jesus, is making me just like Him, and one Day that job is going to be perfectly done, so the truth a fool like me must count on is that i no longer must buy into the lies and venom of others.
So, again, the question is before us. How will we use the power given to us? May this fool of a writer preach for a moment? Just Love with the Love with which you have already been Loved. The Loving-kindness of G_d does not ever come to an end. And this same Love is imbued with a goodness which cannot ever be undone. It will only grow eternal interest and be redeemed fully by the one who supplied the original principle on that Day.
And the evil that spews from the sickness within others will come to an end. Lies and hate and venom and disdain and bitterness and all the other stuff along with this have no everlasting source. So, even if a person hate you for their entire life, that life will come to an end. And the life of the person who Loves, will be freed very soon from even the memory of those who hated him.
But even more beautifully true. When we Loves others with our words, we again are using the most powerful weapon available to us. Some, even many, will be healed and helped and set free from their bondage. In my life, as His Grace brought this about, many dozens, even hundreds have been brought to a knowledge of their salvation in Christ Jesus. What a joy to see the objective truth of Love at work and the freedom that He brings.
So, are you getting some venom spewed in your direction beloved? Just Love. Use a weapon that will defeat the poison, regardless of its toxicity.
