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- Oct 26, 2007
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Gentle words are a tree of life; a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Proverbs 15:4
What is the most hurtful thing anybody has every said to you? Can you recall the circumstances? How long ago was it? Did you embrace it as truth—even if it wasn’t true—and allow it to affect your life for more years than you care to admit?
Have you ever said something hurtful to somebody that you wished you could take back a second after it left your lips? You saw the reaction on the other person’s face, and it confirmed the devastation you realized it might bring. You can say you’re sorry later, and that helps, but you can’t unsay those words.
Gentle words are a tree of life. That doesn’t mean you can’t be truthful, but it does mean you should be gentle. Even tough love can be gentle. Some translations (NIV, NASB) use the word soothing in place of gentle, and the KJV has wholesome. The Hebrew word actually means “medicine, cure, deliverance, and remedy,” among other things.
Are your words like medicine? Do they offer deliverance and a cure? Or are they sometimes deceitful or crushing? Consider how the negative words you recalled so easily at the beginning of this devotion affected you and resolve to not weight anybody down with such a tone going forward.
What is the most hurtful thing anybody has every said to you? Can you recall the circumstances? How long ago was it? Did you embrace it as truth—even if it wasn’t true—and allow it to affect your life for more years than you care to admit?
Have you ever said something hurtful to somebody that you wished you could take back a second after it left your lips? You saw the reaction on the other person’s face, and it confirmed the devastation you realized it might bring. You can say you’re sorry later, and that helps, but you can’t unsay those words.
Gentle words are a tree of life. That doesn’t mean you can’t be truthful, but it does mean you should be gentle. Even tough love can be gentle. Some translations (NIV, NASB) use the word soothing in place of gentle, and the KJV has wholesome. The Hebrew word actually means “medicine, cure, deliverance, and remedy,” among other things.
Are your words like medicine? Do they offer deliverance and a cure? Or are they sometimes deceitful or crushing? Consider how the negative words you recalled so easily at the beginning of this devotion affected you and resolve to not weight anybody down with such a tone going forward.
