What Are You Saying?

"Death and life are in the power of the tongue, ..."     Proverbs 18:21

 What are you saying?  Do your words bring life or death?  Are your words true or false?  Are they the truth or a lie?  Are your statements factual or truthful?  Did you know that the mind cannot distinguish between your figurative and your literal language?

 Could you be telling yourself sick? I need this like I need a hole in the head. You will be the death of me.  You make me sick.  That just breaks my heart.  I'm carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders.  I can't bear it anymore.  I am pretty upset.  That was terribly nice.  I'm sorry, I feel so bad.  I feel terrible about that (an apology).  There's a knot in my stomach.  I'm a glutton for punishment.  My feet are killing me.  What you don't know won't hurt you.

 Could it be that it's not what happens that makes you sick, it's what you tell yourself about what happens that dis-eases you. That was a pain in the neck ... gives me a headache ... breaks my heart ... drives me crazy ... will give me a heart attack ... will be the death of me ... sets my teeth on edge ... makes my skin crawl ... is a bitter pill to swallow ... weighs on me ... is nerve wracking.

Are death and life really in the power of the tongue?  What are you saying?  Are your words different from God’s Words? Begin to speak more of God's Word, the truth. Replace your unhealthy thoughts and statements with healthy ones. 

Man's Ways vs God's Ways

"There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death." 

Proverbs 14:12

My pastor often says "kill you so you won't kill you."  Think about it.  Are you willing to die to self? To your ungodly ways? To your unholy thoughts?  To the desires of your heart?  To worldly wisdom?  Do you really want to pay the price and suffer the consequences of following your ways instead of God's ways?

What is she talking about, you may be thinking.  I recently asked a group of women who participate in an early morning bible study "what are some of our ways that are contrary to God's ways"?  Their responses follow -- same sex marriage, not seeking God in all things, more than one wife -- bigotry,  people pleasers, handling anger, not turning the other cheek, living together but not married, parents killing their own children, not tithing, tithing on the net and not the gross, fornication, what we eat, children not respecting parents, parents not respecting children, spouses not respecting spouses, not putting God first ... making spontaneous moves, parents not speaking the things of God over their children, speaking negatively not positively, parents not living their lives before Christ, poverty, starving babies, adultery, idolatry, having other gods, being unequally yoked, double mindedness,  abortion.  Add your ways to the list.

Remember God's message to us that His ways and thoughts are not our ways and thoughts, that His ways and thoughts are higher than are ours (see Isaiah 55:8-9).  Though our ways seem right, they will only lead to death.  Stop killing yourself!  Change from your ways to God's ways!

My Brother's Keeper

I was recently reading an article by the executive director of the Birmingham Jewish Federation in which he wrote "all Jews are responsible for one another, we are taught."  Ummh, I thought how interesting.  My mind quickly took me to the age old question that Cain asked the LORD.  The LORD asked Cain where was his brother Abel.  Cain answered the LORD's question with a question -- "am I my brother's keeper?"

Am I my brother's keeper?  My response is probably not unlike your response.  Who is my brother?  How I answer the first question is dependent upon my response to the second question.  Ummh ... my third question -- so what does keeper mean?  The Hebrew word means to watch, guard, observe. The sense of the root of the word means to exercise great care over.  Ummh, more questions ... am I responsible for my brother ... how responsible ... to what degree am I really responsible for my brother?

Am I my brother's keeper?  Why can't the answer be simple and easy?  Why do I have to be concerned about those outside my house, my family, my circle?  Why do my brothers sometimes have to be so far away, so different from me, so coarse and crude and unkind and unkempt and unworthy and undeserving?  I must look to the Word, to Jesus' teachings, for my answers. Could my brother be a complete stranger like the one the Samaritan helped (see Luke 10:30-37)?  Am I expected to do all of that for a complete stranger?  Is Jesus serious when He says "whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me" (see Matthew 25:45)?  In verse 40, Jesus gives the reverse: "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

What say you?  Are you your brother's keeper?