Praise & Curse

I heard a saying the other day the other day that was so powerful and it challenged me so I felt I might share it. “When you speak do so to call out the gold in others.” I thought on this for several days and realized how subtly the enemy tries to shift us by shifting our tongue.

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude (image) of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.”

‭‭James‬ ‭3:8-10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In general I have never been one to gossip in fact because it can be an issue for my job I feel like I have always been overly cautious in this regard. However when I heard this phrase God challenged me to take a deeper look. I started to see some places where I had let frustrations guide my tongue this past week instead of taking them under God’s covering. I allowed God to go deep in my heart and show me where I can be changed to bring Him more glory. I was amazed at how subtle the snares of the enemy are to move our speech to the wrong purpose.

If you feel this doesn’t really apply to you consider your interactions recently; were there any where you got frustrated with someone who cut you off while traveling? Did someone cut in front of you in the grocery checkout? Or perhaps take what you considered too much time? Did you find yourself grumbling about someone ? Herein lies the subtleties of the enemy’s plan. If we can be shifted ever so slightly we will stop looking for the gold in someone. We will instead allow our tongue to steer our interactions even if it is only in our thoughts. You see whether we think these thing or actually say them it has shifted our heart away from the other person. It has moved us from praise to curse. We no longer look for the glimmers of God inside a person, seeking their true nature as God created them to be. We instead turn a critical eye to them and begin heaping coals of curse upon them. Friends, not one of us needs to be reminded of our shortcomings for they are ever present in our hearts. However, when someone calls forth that which has been covered over by the muck and mire of life and brings that to surface it is than that hope can arise and redemption can happen.

Let’s call out the gold in those who cross our path for they are made in the image of God and are dearly loved by our Father.