Thursday Devotion

Every Thursday I am going to post a devotional that I have written.  Eventually, I want to have something where anyone can link up and post one of their own devotionals.  For now, I won't do that, but I will in the next few weeks!
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I came across this verse this week...

"...but no being can tame the tongue.  It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God."  James 3: 8-9

This is a verse I actually have not read very often before.  However, I thought that it was a beautiful, and very true, verse  I especially like it because, being in highschool, this can happen a lot.  Especially with girls.  A Christian girl, who loves God with all her heart, can look at a girl at school and say to her friends "I hate her!"  Come on, you know you have done it before!  I don't care if you go to a "real" school with kids other than your siblings or not!  (I'm homeschooled.  I can say that!) 

I just love this verse when it says "we bless our Lord and Father", but with our tongue we also "curse people who are made in the likeness of God."

We can sing beautiful songs in church, we can write and speak great speeches, we can compose pages upon pages of a story, and we can pray to God.  But, we can also tell a person we hate them, mock a person's actions, physically abuse a person.  We can do that to people - people who are made in a holy God's image.  I'm not saying that people are holy, because we aren't even close.  But God does say "Whatever you do to the lease of these, you do unto me."

That means the girl who was your best friend in second grade who ditched you for another girl.  That can also mean anyone, anyone who has hurt you in some way.  I think that is something people really struggle with.  We as humans are so selfish that we automatically act as if we have hate the person who might have hurt us.  We think only ourselves, when really, we don't even know if they hurt us on purpose. 

If we could only learn to go immediately to that person or people, and talk the conflict out, things would be so much easier.  If we treat the person we are saying bad things about or gossipping about, as if they were Jesus, would we say the things we say about them?  Would we say "I hate her" or "Look at her clothes" or "What is her problem"?

I struggle with this a lot, and I bet you do too.  I know there are people I need to talk to, and I know there are people I have hurt before.  A daily challenge can be to say kind words to our siblings.  We can't yell at them to go away so we can do our devotions!  I know this is really hard for all of us with siblings!

This week, try to bless the Lord with your beautiful voice or daily prayers while blessing people with your words at the same time.  I also encourage you to read all of John 3, and see what it says about the tongue and our words.  Have a great week!