God Will Bless You!!

People will insult you and hurt you. They will lie and say all kinds of evil things about you because you follow me. But when they do, you will be blessed.

Matthew 5:11 

 

Have you ever noticed that the teachings of Jesus always seem to fly in the face of our natural reactions?  Let's face it, it's rather difficult to be nice to someone who seems bent on making you miserable, yet Jesus tells us we are to pray for those who treat us badly.  Why would we want to do that?  Could it be that He expects us to be the example of kindness to those who are unkind?

 

In today's verse, Jesus comes right out and tells us that some people will be out to get you, to discredit you, to ruin your reputation, to put you in a bad light for others.  The reasons for doing such things....Jesus doesn't consider them worthy of mention.  Instead, we are supposed to focus on OUR actions and attitudes.

Few Words.......

Those who control their tongue will have a long life;
    opening your mouth can ruin everything.

Proverbs 13:3 

 

Ever notice how we are taught in Scripture to go against our natural instinct?  If someone mouths off to us, our instinct is to deliver a blistering response that will, hopefully, shut them up.  Then there's the gossip aspect...we get upset when people spread rumors about us or those we care about, but aren't we guilty of spreading rumors about others as well?

 

When my Grampa took me fishing,  he made it very clear to me that I needed to get all my wiggling, giggling, and yapping out of my system BEFORE we got in the boat.  So we would sit in the boat for hours and we would catch fish as long as I was quiet.  That trend broke when Grampa ran out of coffee and dozed off...his snoring sent rippling waves across the lake.

 

Think about out ancestors who had to hunt for sustenance.  Do you think the one who jabbered away got to bring home any meat?  Probably not.  In fact, he might have brought home a load of shot in his back pockets.

 

One of the things about my BOSS, the Sheriff, is that he is a man of few words.  One does not have to talk a lot to make a point.  In fact, I learned in Seminary that a sermon should be less than 17 minutes in length because you will lose the congregations attention if you preach longer.  I have worked in churches where the preacher prided himself on the ability to preach for 2-3 hours, yet wondered why people stopped coming to the services.

 

Guard your tongue!  Speak few words!  Make them meaningful! 

 

"Make your words impactful! The less you speak, the less you have to answer for later!" - Albert Einstein (credited)