Today's Devotional Thought
February 08, 2013 by Wendy Foreman
How's Your Heart?
Murdering with our words, that is what he preached on a few Sundays ago and it left me pondering in my heart all the words I have spoken out of anger in my home and towards so many I have claimed to love.
No we don't physically murder someone when we speak out of anger to their face or to others. But I believe with everything in me it is a reflection of what is in our hearts. It is a heart issue. The scripture is clear that we are just as guilty as if we murdered.
How serious is that? I mean, have you really ever stopped to think about how your words can kill someone?
I can imagine that some of you are thinking that I have really gone too far with the meaning of these scriptures. That a few words when we are frustrated with someone or a few words when we are angry are okay. Well Jesus says we are guilty.
There are so many scriptures that talk about love and how we should love others more than we love ourselves and how God is love. Luke 10:27 says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself. 1 John 4:8 says whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. So we can see just by these two verses that we must love because if we don't then perhaps we need to be asking ourselves if we really love God.
The point I want to make today is one of the things that makes us like God is the love that we have for one another. It is hard to love sometimes when we have been hurt or betrayed; I understand that totally. But when we are born of God, there is a transformation that should begin in our hearts. We can only genuinely love others when we spend time in His Word learning how to be more like Him, asking His spirit to lead us to strengthen us and to enable us to love like He loves.
As you begin your day today ask the Lord to help you hold your tongue. Chances are you will encounter people all day who will send your blood pressure rising for one reason or another. But wouldn't it feel fantastic if you were able to walk away knowing that you held your tongue and didn't murder with your words today? Wouldn't it feel good to know that you loved like God loves? Anyone can extend love and kindness to someone who is nice and loving. The real test is when we can do those things to someone who is hateful and unkind to us.
I challenge you today to love when it seems impossible and to speak with words of kindness when it feels like you can't.
December