Sticks and Stones part 2
Words are important. That's my focus for this Rant series. What you say matters. Being a man of your word. We touched on this verse in the "Put On" Rant series, but it fits here too: "Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds" (Colossians 3:9). One of the best--perhaps THE best--way to show people that we have put on the new man is by not lying to them. Telling them the truth in love. The truth that God is love and He loves you. The truth that God loves ME and because of that I CAN love you. Here's the Divine Order of things: God loved us first. We love Him back. By loving each other. How you treat people is how you treat God. Jesus said whatever you do unto the least of them you do unto the King. How you deal with people is how you think God deals with you. If you're hard, and mean, and distant with people, always out to get them, to get one over on them, to exalt yourself at their expense... its because that's how you see God. We are created in His image. How we see Him is how we see ourselves, and each other. Its all about relationship. And our relationship with each other mirrors our relationship with our God. The God who is love. That's where it has to start and end. The Alpha and Omega. Love. And, by the way, its not just the beginning and the end. Its everything in between. Its all about love. Because its all love. Look at John 6:63, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." The Word (which is Jesus, which is love) IS life. Love and life aren't just connected. They are the same thing. So follow me on this one--"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). The Word (Jesus, love) is Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Where the Word is, there is liberty! Telling someone you love them--and then showing them what that Word means, charity, love in action--brings so much freedom. And liberty, freedom, isn't freedom TO sin... it is freedom FROM sin. It is freedom TO love! To be loved. To receive and release the gift we've been given. To experience that abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of God by letting Jesus live it in us, and through us, and as us. By letting Jesus love people in us, and through us, and as us. By speaking the truth. Speaking the Word--which, one more time, is Jesus, is love. So I'm not saying we need to go around shoving Jesus down people's throats. They'll choke on Him. The harder you try to force something down someone's throat, the more they throw it back up. So instead of saying, "Jesus," maybe just say "love." I love you. Sticks and stones may break my bones, and words CAN hurt me. But they can also heal me. They can also bring freedom. Liberty. Joy. Happiness. Words can tear people down. But they can also build people up. Edify them. Heal them. There is power in words. Death and life is in the power of the tongue. Let me end it with this old saying, "Keep your words soft and sweet, because you might have to eat them."