Rend or Mend?
Theme of the Week: Watch Your Language
Ron Hutchcraft
Friday, March 25, 2005
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verses: Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing (Proverbs 12:18). Bonus Reading: Proverbs 10:32; 15:4; 16:24;29:11
My son and I had both had one of those bad days. My tension from work and his from school collided in hard words about chores that needed doing. Stressed-out parents can crush a fragile spirit. I'd learned ways to shorten arguments—and win them. It required only a cutting remark that produced guilt and surrender.
I was just about to win with my ugly weapon. Then my mental computer brought up something from my memory bank. On the screen flashed a reminder from the Holy Spirit: "Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them" (Ephesians 4:29).
What I was about to say wouldn't have helped build up my son. It would have torn him down. The air around me was poisoned with tension. I chose not to breathe it. I breathed instead the inner oxygen supplied by the Holy Spirit from a verse our family had just memorized. Remembering God's words brings poise under pressure. I hugged my son instead of hurting him with my words. Peace had won. The quiet center was working. The words of Jesus had given me restraint.
—Ron Hutchcraft in Living Peacefully in a Stressful World
My Response: One situation where I need to practice restraint with my words is …
Thought to Apply: To speak of "mere words" is much like speaking of "mere dynamite."—C. J. DUCASSE (philosophy professor)
Adapted from Living Peacefully in a Stressful World (Discovery, 1985, 2000) by permission.
Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Take control of what I say, O Lord, and keep my lips sealed. —Psalm 141:3
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