Musings of the Day #5

March 15, 2009

Today at our church we were blessed to have Susie McIntyre as our guest to sing and to challenge us. She is the sister of Reba McIntyre. I'm not much into country music, but I was into Susie's testimony and challenge. The Spirit of the Lord annointed her presentation as she touched on one of the most hush-hush sins of believers. Is there sin among us? Oh, yes. And interestingly enough, the more spiritual we become, the more subtle the sin and the less it is addressd. So what was the sin?

Abuse - spouse abuse! Surprised? I wasn't. As I sat there listening to her touch this sensitive nerve, I was so aware of spouses around me being touched by the Spirit of the Lord either because they are victims of abuse or because they are abusers. She talked not only of physical abuse, but mental and spiritual abuse. She brought up the old saying, " Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me," revealing this saying for the lie that it is. Her neice wrote a song about this that is on her newest album. "Sticks and stones may break my bones but they will heal. Words cut like a knife in my inner heart that none can see but they never heal." When we wound someone with our words, dear friends, only God himself can bring about the healing needed for that person. For hurting words become a tape played over and over in the victim's mind. And try as they may, they cannot free themselves from the tape. Only the Lord can set us free by speaking blessing into our lives.

Our words are either a blessing or a curse. "The tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell," James 3:6. "Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be," James 3:10. So the next time you are tempted to say something nasty to the ones you love, remember you are heaping a curse upon them. God will set them free, but what about you?

Lord, we repent of words spoke in haste and without love. Cleanse us and forgives us. Amen