Words of Hurt

[Chad]

A small flame can destroy the whole forest. It starts off small, then spreads rapid as wild fires do. Shortly after the first flame is set, the forest goes up in flames burning all the trees and branches. Rapid destruction to something beautiful. Yet, how very long it takes to for all the beautiful trees to regrow back to the wonderful form they once were? It takes years to restore this beauty.

The same holds true with what we speak. When we speak hurtful words, it just may take years to heal the hurt that cannot be reversed but only forgiven. Forgiveness is sometimes very difficult, especially when pride stands in the way of godliness. What wildfires do to forests, gossip does to friendship.

Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man stirs up dissension, and a gossip separates close friends.

Proverbs 26:20
Without wood a fire goes out; without gossip a quarrel dies down.

Psalm 15:2-4
2He who walks blamelessly and does what is right
and speaks truth in his heart;
3who does not slander with his tongue
and does no evil to his neighbor,
nor takes up a reproach against his friend;
4in whose eyes a vile person is despised,
but who honors those who fear the LORD;
who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

Proverbs 10:18
The one who conceals hatred has lying lips,and whoever utters slander is a fool

GOD is stern about gossip. He has taught us to repay evil with love, to refrain from quarrelsome arguments, to walk straight with humility and avoid those who speak slander against each other. Is it worth disobeying GOD and walking foolishly, hurting others along the way? What is our reward should we partake in such gossip (hate)?

Have you been convicted of your own gossip and slander? When you speak in secret to others, ask yourself: what would Jesus do?

My first devotional.

 

[ladylovesJesus]

Brother Chad that is a wonderful devotional and well put together too.

I am reminded now of Prov.18.

21 The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit.

It is so true about our words and how easy it is to say something in haste only to regret it later and one cannot take back the words spoken.

We have those bracelets here that have those letters written on them: WWJD

God is using us in all different ways now. It is good to see what He is doing.

God bless you and may you produce more fruitful devotions. :rainbow: :rose:

 

[monkeys]

Thank you Chad for this post.

It is so true. Gossip is such an ugly thing. When participating in gossip we are tearing down others. For who are we to judge another person?

Matthew 7:5:
You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

This also relates to the power of the tongue, someone posting something about this topic recently.

I must admit, it is hard at times to not get angry and back off from pointless arguments, or any argument for that matter. God is still polishing me. However, I realized lately that God has really been softening my heart. I am so happy about that.

Recently, I was driving to school and the light turned. I waited about 10 seconds until I honked my horn to alert the person in front of me. My boyfriend say from his rear-view-mirror that he called me a rather bad name. Usually, I would have been so angry. But this time I was so hurt, and I even prayed for that man.

It's so important, like you said in you last line Chad...What would Jesus do?

I think we need to ask ourselves that everyday, and every moment.