Don’t Make This Mistake
James 3:2 We all make many mistakes. A person who never said anything wrong would be perfect. Someone like that would be able to control their whole body too.
As you and I look back on our lives, we can both recall times when we’ve said things that hurt people – lies, criticism, ridicule – that must have landed like a dagger into their hearts.
It’s a sobering thought, isn’t it, that you and I have hurt people along the way; that we may have left a trail of destruction in our wake through what we’ve said to others?
I heard someone say once that words are containers of power. It’s true. What we say, and just importantly how we say it, tells the other person exactly what we think of them.
And even if you’re someone who makes it a habit to think before you speak (and let’s face it, a lot of people don’t – they just blurt out what comes to mind without any kind of filter), even if you’re measured in your tone and careful in how you choose your words, there’s absolutely no doubt that you have, as have I, hurt people with what you’ve said.
And sometimes the harm that our words do lingers on for a lifetime.
James 3:2 We all make many mistakes. A person who never said anything wrong would be perfect. Someone like that would be able to control their whole body too.
Wow – a person who’s never said anything wrong would be … perfect! Absolutely, they would. That takes a lot of self-control – something we’ll chat about over the coming days.
But, for the moment, know this: Words have power – the power to do good and the power to do evil. Every word that you and I speak will, to some extent, do either one or the other.
Be careful what you say.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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