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Trusting others is hard. Especially for those of us who have been lied to, misled, or had people in our lives who claimed to be our friends but eventually turned their backs on us. It’s hard to trust someone who throws you under the bus whenever they feel the need to feel good about themselves.
Too many people love you for what they can get from you. When you can’t deliver anymore they toss you out like yesterday’s paper. Others may claim to love you and make promises they can’t (or later refuse) to fulfill. God doesn’t love you for what you can give him, he loves you for what he can give you. He’s never made a promise that he couldn’t fulfill. You can trust him to deliver.
When we focus on the past we tend to resist change. When we focus on what we see (the present) we tend to lose hope. When we focus on the future and what God can do we live in expectation.
Thieves take for their own benefit. Jesus gives for the benefit of others. His joy is in giving, not getting. Some thieves steal goods and property but the worst thieves are those who steal or destroy your heart. Physical property can be replaced. Physical wounds can heal. But the wounds of the soul are unseen and can take years, if ever, to heal. Love Jesus. Be a giver, not a taker.
Matthew quotes some rather sobering words of Jesus in his gospel. Matthew 15:18 states, “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.”
Those words hit hard for me because my mouth is often my biggest enemy. I think it safe to say that most of the time I’m in trouble it’s not because of my actions, it’s because of my mouth. Jesus’ brother, James offers no help. He points out the dichotomy of both fresh water and bitter water coming from the same well.
Cleaning up our language is treating symptoms, not causes. The root of a foul mouth is a dirty heart. There. I said it. I don’t like it, but from my knowledge of scripture I believe it to be true.
We use God’s name in vain because we fail to see him as he is. We ridicule others because we fail to see them as creations of God. Yep. Even the guy who cut you off. Even the sports official who is totally oblivious to the rules of the game. Even the server at the restaurant that is more interested in their phone than your empty drink glass. We make off-color jokes because our brand of holiness is governed by culture, not the plum line of a Holy God.
The worst part about words unwisely spoken is that you can’t reverse the results. You can be forgiven, but poorly chosen words are like a cancer to the soul. They can lie dormant for years but are always lurking in the memory banks of time.
Holy God, forgive us for the wounds unwise words have caused. Cleanse our hearts so that the words we speak build up where lives have been torn down. Heal the wounds we bear at the tongues of others. Amen
