Devotional Thought of the Day:

¹⁸  A false accusation is as deadly as a sword, a club, or a sharp arrow. Proverbs 25:18 (TEV)
³⁸  “You have heard the law that says the punishment must match the injury: ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.’ ³⁹  But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. Matthew 5:38-39 (NLT2)
¹⁵  See to it that no one be deprived of the grace of God, that no bitter root spring up and cause trouble, through which many may become defiled, Hebrews 12:15 (NAB)

63 The third aspect of this commandment concerns us all. It forbids all sins of the tongue by which we may injure or offend our neighbor. False witness is clearly a work of the tongue. Whatever is done with the tongue against a neighbor, then, is forbidden by God. This applies to false preachers with their corrupt teaching and blasphemy, to false judges and witnesses with their corrupt behavior in court and their lying and malicious talk outside of court.
264 It applies particularly to the detestable, shameful vice of back-biting or slander by which the devil rides us. Of this much could be said. It is a common vice of human nature that everyone would rather hear evil than good about his neighbor. Evil though we are, we cannot tolerate having evil spoken of us; we want the golden compliments of the whole world. Yet we cannot bear to hear the best spoken of others.

442    Never think badly of anyone, not even if the words or conduct of the person in question give you good grounds for doing so.

There will always be people we struggle with, people whose actions and words we don’t understand, and often, those words and actions seem to attach or denigrate or embarrass us.

Sometimes the original intent is harmless, like the joke that struck to close to home. 

It is hard not to react.  Some would say impossible. 

They’ve given reason to think badly about them, to gossip about them, to strike back with words that would hurt them, and perhaps those around them.

Scripture pleads with you, as does Luther and a Catholic saint, don’t say, it, don’t think it. Don’t let your words add to the catastrophe that is occurring. Don’t let the bitterness rise up within you, and spread out like poison.  DOn’t get involved in backbiting or slander. Don’t try to justify it, don’t try to 

Just don’t. 

Your words will simply cause more damage, they will tear more people up, as the Psalmist says, these words are weapons, they do an incredible amount of damage, even to the point of killing.

So someone’s words hurt, they stung, they damaged you.  How do you respond?

Prayer is the place to start, asking God to remind you of and reveal His grace to you.  The grace that will remind you of your forgiveness and the promise to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.  Prayer is the place where you can ask God to give you the strength not to respond. 

It is when we are secure in HIS peace that we can love past the pain, that we ae assured His cleansing of our lives includes the injustice, the unrighteous acts committed against us.  It is there then, with Christ bearing all the sin in our lives, that we find hope, and the possibility of grace. 

This isn’t easy, it takes the spiritual maturity of a saint. 

That’s okay, God made you to be a saint…

So think of His love, and rejoice, and share that blessing with those whose words hurt. 

The Lord is with you! 

Sources

Tappert, T. G. (Ed.). (1959). The Book of Concord the confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (p. 400). Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press.

Escriva, Josemaria. The Way (Kindle Locations 1087-1089). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.