CRUELTY!

CRUELTY!

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up,

as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."

Eph 4:29

Cruelty is a deliberate infliction of pain or suffering, an action that displays a quality or characteristic of being cruel. We associate cruelty with people that are evil and void of conscience, someone with malicious intent. Murder is a cruel act in and of itself but in certain circumstances can be even more heinous and cruel by things that take the act itself to the extent of torture. We don't often associate godly things with cruelty, because of the negative its nature.

We have the truth, God's word that can set us free! Its wisdom can show us the paths to walk, and its pages testify to the grace that God gives. You and I are told to study it, examine it, search it, and live it. We are told in 2 Tim.3;16,17 "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work." Yes! -- reproof (to convict) - we're going to slap them in chains! Correction - we're going to take a stick to them! Instruction in righteousness - for all that evil living that they are doing, we're going to rake them over the coals of God's word! But -- is this the attitude that Jesus tells us to have? I agree, that there is a time and place for all things. There is a time, when someone is doing wrong, that we need to convict them of the wrong, sometimes more sternly than others. Yes, there is a time to correct, again sometimes more sternly than others. And....there are times to rake people over the pointed edges of the word of God! But, I find these times few.

We wax bold with God's word because it makes us righteous, but we should take care to heed Paul's warning in 1 Cor.8:1, that"..knowledge puffs up.." The same word that tells us to do the things that we mentioned above also warn you and I as followers of Christ

1. Eph 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
2. Col 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
3. Jas 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.
   

Just because we "have" the truth, does not mean we can use it indiscriminately. Again, God's word itself reminds us, Heb 4:12 "For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." It is two edged, meaning that what I use, can come back and cut me as well. If I use God's word in judgmental, harsh, and cruel ways, I may be speaking truth, but what does God's word reveal of my own intention?

Let's take care in our zeal to defend the word of God, that we do not under the guise of proclaiming "righteous judgment" inflict with our voices, actions, and mannerisms a cruelty that God does not. It is true that we must let the Bible speak for itself, and it does so very clearly. But it does not need our emotional embellishment, nor does it need our baggage attached. This is why Jesus warned the Pharisees, Matt. 7:5 "You hypocrite! First, take the log out of your own eye; then you will see clearly, so that you can remove the splinter from your brother's eye! "

Jim