Jesus teaches that our words will either condemn us or justify us - even the careless (or insignificant) words are judged.
I have stayed with this scripture for the last few days. But tomorrow I move on.
Matthew 12:22-37 22 Then they brought to him a demoniac who was blind and mute; and he cured him, so that the one who had been mute could speak and see. 23 All the crowds were amazed and said, "Can this be the Son of David?" 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "It is only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons, that this fellow casts out the demons." 25 He knew what they were thinking and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27 If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your own exorcists cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 28 But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come to you. 29 Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his property, without first tying up the strong man? Then indeed the house can be plundered. 30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. 31 Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven for every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. 33 "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. 34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good person brings good things out of a good treasure, and the evil person brings evil things out of an evil treasure. 36 I tell you, on the day of judgment you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter; 37 for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."
Do we ignore Jesus' teaching that our words are important because they will be used to judge us?
Note: Jesus draws this picture of our hearts being a treasure chest from which our words are drawn. Those with good treasure, speak good things. Even though the Pharisees were judging Jesus with their words, their words were actually judging them. Their words flowed from an evil treasure.
Last Sunday, during Sunday School, Steve taught that Jesus calls us to address personal attacks with love rather than with fists or put downs. I believe this is only possible when our hearts contain God's love as its treasure. Then from a heart which is full of God's love, we can address the wrongs against us with love instead of anger. The hardest part of doing this, however, is that our hearts are pretty broken and most of us have put up barriers to receiving God's love. We tend to store our own baggage where God's love is supposed to be. So when someone offends us, we go the treasure in our heart and pull out our baggage and throw it at the person instead of finding God's love in our hearts and addressing the wrong out of the abundance of love within us.
I felt this happen in my own life this week. Someone offended me by both attacking my character and telling me just how insignificant I am. The fit way for a follower of Christ to handle this situation is to go to one's heart, find it over flowing with God's love, and use that love to address the issue. My son, who majors in Peaces in Justice Studies and really is an expert on reconcilation, talked with me about the practicalities of how I could address this with the person given the deep hurt I felt. He said to wait until God filled my heart with love for the other person and - not until then - should I address it. Otherwise I would be addressing it from my own baggage - fear of being insignificant, fear of not being "good" enough for God to use in his service. He said it is not enough to act like I loved the person, but I must actually love them. I must actually be willing to put their good before my own.
So I prayed for God to clean my heart of old baggage - old fears - old lies of never being good enough - and replace it with his love. I have since felt God working within me doing just that. Soon I hope my words will over flow from this transforming heart and I will be ready to offer kind words to my offender.
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