Monday the 27th

James 3:  ⁹With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.

 

Matthew 16: ¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'

 

Luke 6: ⁴⁵The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks

 

 

The first one is from James, the last two are from Christ. All three serve as a reminder that what we say shows far more than just what is on our mind at the moment. How often have we heard, or maybe even used the phrase “oh I was just talking off the top of my head” or something to the like? I did not mean it, is another one that comes to mind. It seems that we often have to backtrack on words that are spoken in haste, but I have noticed that not everyone lives like that. I know of some people who never seem to have to take anything back. They are the people who always have a kind word on their lips, they have more encouragement to offer than negativity. They are the people that we often look at and think “wow, how do they do that?” This small group of people have “got it” they understand the fist passage, they are the good people in the third, so they do not have to worry about the second. You see, if we praise our Lord with our tongues then how can we curse what God has made with the same? Someone is always held responsible. When your car, your computer, hot water heater, whatever, you curse it….but you are really not cursing that one thing are you? No, we typically thing I should have bought _____, a better brand, a different model, we think that the people who made the thing that has brought us grief have done an inferior job. It is the same when we lash out at those around us, we might be taking out our frustrations on the person, but in actuality, you are curing the creator, as if the manufacturer had in some way built an inferior model. Humans are far different than anything that a human can make, we are made by the one and only God. The master builder, the accomplished, and perfect manufacturer, however God did an amazing thing, He gave us open source software. We can write and rewrite our programs, hopefully improving with each new version. What we find is that what we write that new code with is what it will produce. If we fill ourselves with love, with praise, with the positive things in life, then we write a program that will produce those same code for others to see. Just like all of the other “cool” things out on the market, when others see that new program that you have written, they too will want it for their own. This is why Christ tells us that what comes out of our mouth can make us unclean. No matter how dirty the outside, what comes from the inside is what will soil our hearts, and those around us. Praise God, and all that he has created, store up good in your heart, and watch and listen as the cleanliness of   the Lord pours out. We were given the code, and software to fill the world with love, we make the choice to improve, and tweak that code, or we upload some virus that the world has out on the market. We can flood the world with hate, or we can flood it with love, and which gate is open has a lot to do with the next word that comes from each of our mouths.

 

 

God Bless,

Brian Thetford

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www.thenewcovenantchurch.com

 

www.theworkweekwithchrist.blogspot.com