God's Rubber Suit

How many times, as a child, did you have to counter nasty comments with either of these ditties: “I‘m rubber, you‘re glue, whatever you say about me bounces of me and sticks to you.“ or “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.” The problem is, words do hurt, very deeply I might add. James, the brother of Jesus addresses this issue when he wrote this passage: “People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! “ James 3:7-10. He tells us that no one can tame the tongue, through our human effort that is.  Tongue-taming is best left to the Master.  But, I want to go back to the damage that our uncontrolled tongues can wreak.

I talked to a woman the other day, who told me she really struggled with the effects of unkind words.  Her job, as a parole officer,  daily puts her right in the midst of nasty, verbal attacks. After awhile, even when she considers the source, they begin to attack who she is in Christ.  Isn’t that what happens to all of us, on one level or another?  Jesus told us that it wasn’t a matter of if we’d be on the receiving end, but when.  Even his own family said, at one point, that He was out of his mind, while the Pharisees angrily proclaimed that he was possessed by Beelzebub!

What do we do with these offensive barbs when they hit?  Well, we can curl up in a ball and wallow in self-pity, allowing spiritual gangrene to set in, or as Paul encourages, “…take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.” Ephesians 6:16. Similar to that rubber suit we donned as kids, the shield of faith protects us and goes on to extinguish the “flaming arrows”. Once doused, they are no threat to us…remember that!  Don’t let words, spoken from an unbridled tongue, undermine your joy, and who you are in Christ, EVER!! Instead, be prepared for them, and take comfort in this passage from the sermon on the mount, “Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.” Luke 6:22