You may have heard words thrown around like rocks or even worse, like knives. Unkind words, carelessly spoken seldom go unnoticed. And so it was demonstrated this past week when the news of Donald Trump’s election victory was announced world-wide. On the record are words spoken against him by foreign leaders ranging from UK’s secretary of state to our own prime minister Justin Trudeau. “He is an odious, sad little man.” “He is a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath.” “He is a racist, misogynistic self-confessed groper”. When the Australian prime minister called Trump with his congratulations, his ambassador to the US was busily deleting disparaging posts he had made “in case they are misconstrued as Australia’s position”. It stands true that unkind words, no matter how true we think they are at the time we uttered them, have a way of coming back to haunt us. Solomon in Proverbs 12:18 describes it well when he writes, “Rash words spoken are like thrusts of a sword.” David says of unkind critics, “They come back howling like dogs, bellowing with their mouths with swords in their lips.”
As I ponder the events of the last few days, I am intrigued by the sudden diplomacy that those who have hurled insults and criticisms now suddenly arrive at. In this case, it may be an awakening that comes from the results of a landslide election victory. But what if Trump did not win? Does that somehow justify unkind words? Do we allow unkindness because we think there are no consequences to what we say? Head back to Solomon’s words in Proverbs 12:18. In the same verse that counsels against rash words, he writes, “The tongue of the wise brings healing.” Do you see the contrast? Thrusts of a sword don’t heal; unkind words by design deal injury. But wisdom in how we speak does. A little later, he writes, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue. They that love it shall eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21). We are reminded that what we serve with our tongues, we eat with our souls. James is more direct when he says, “Out of the same mouth we bless and we curse. My brothers, this ought not be so.” In the next while, we may see a good many people held to what they said in public media. Others are still busy deleting what they have written. Perhaps we could learn to be kind with our lips. Always. To everyone. And let’s learn to pray as David prays, “Lord, set a watch before my mouth. Keep the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).
Just Church
Here at Just Church, we seek to be just the kind of church Jesus wants – consistently kind, always loving. “The vision of Just Church is to establish a church in just the way Christ called the church to be – true to His Word, loving Him, loving one another, and loving the lost.”
