Blessing and Cursing

James 3:9-11

New International Version (NIV)

 "⁹ With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. ¹⁰ Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. ¹¹ Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?"

I am being convicted right now. In my last post I was describing how irritating it is to be looked down on because my current circumstances make it easy to judge me. However, the more I thought about,talked about, and recognized all the looks and all the awkward questions, the more I focused on all that negativity. I began to allow the lies about me become a part of me. If I know that God is for me and I know that he thinks highly of me, than that should be all that matters. And I know that the more I believe in who I am based on what he says, the more those lies will go unnoticed or at least the be rendered powerless. 

Not only was I allowing myself to take part in cursing myself, I was becoming biter. Thanks to a friend, I read, "1 Pet 4:12-14 (Phi) And now, dear friends of mine, I beg you not to be unduly alarmed at the fiery ordeals which come to test your faith, as though this were some abnormal experience. " I kept thinking, ugh,  this is so unfair, and it is! Yet the more I thought about how unfair this all is, the more I thought about how upset I am at the person that has put me here. I want JUSTICE. Then, isn't there a judge here already? For every person, isn't it between them and God? It's true, and so I can't curse any man that is hurting me either. Blessing should only be on my lips for myself, and for anyone else. 


"If the cross was all he did for me, it'd be enough," was what a friend said at church last week, and oh was she right. God's promise to redeem my life is already in work, and he will not take advantage of me. I can't compare him to all those that have. He will not lie. He will not trick me. He will not take back his salvation. I can't care about what anyone thinks because God is still God, and the Jesus is still risen.