The devotional message of yesterday continues into today. It centers around the theme of Jesus’ Truth. Jesus tells us to be careful with our tongue for it can bless as well as curse. The curse can often look like sharing a difficult story with someone else when we haven’t confronted it with the person we have the difficulty with. My devotional says we hurt three people when we do this: ourselves, the listener and the one being spoken about. Jesus never uses gossip. But, He does use our obedience. In Titus 3:2 we are told “to slander no one”.

A couple of years ago I had someone who slandered me and was doing so to some others. I did talk with this person but seemingly to no avail. I went to my prayer warrior to get good advice from her. In so doing I slandered this person to her. Instantly she reprimanded me for “putting a curse upon this person”. She told me I needed to ask God to forgive me for doing so. I was obedient and did do this, but the depth of this meaning didn’t hit home like it does today. It is so much like the scripture about the speck in one’s eye when we have a log in our own.

Confronting a problem is always difficult and particularly when it is a problem that has “hurt our pride”. Jesus tells us to confront it in love knowing we have also had our own sins which needed to be forgiven. To only talk about it with others rather than confront it with the one only spreads the poison allowing Satan to rejoice for he is the master of breaking relationships or keeping them from developing. I sure don’t want to give Him any fuel.