“With the
tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who
have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and
cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be.”
Don’t tell me you love
me and then speak rudely to my children.
Those two things can’t exist together.
Apparently, God feels
the same way. This verse says we cannot praise God, and then with the same
mouth, curse those He died to save. It is a contradiction that is indefensible.
If we are to worship God,
we must abandon our insensitivity, and cynicism towards His children. We have become so accustomed to verbally
attacking each other that it is now the natural reaction to any disagreement.
The harshest personal insults
go unnoticed in our society. Yet I assure you, they do not go unnoticed in
heaven. We have become so flippant with our words that it seems we have
forgotten that they are capable of great destruction.
1st John 4:
19 says “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar.” So, are you a liar? Apparently, there is no middle ground. Your
speech indicates that either you love God and your brother, or you don’t.
According to the verse
in James, you can use your words to worship God, or you can use them to demean
and insult His children…but you can’t do both.
So, before you verbally unload
on someone today, remember they are the only thing in all of creation made in
the image and likeness of God…and that should change your tone.
“I consider
looseness with words no less of a defect than looseness of the bowels.” John
Calvin
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