We Are What We Eat

Why are you reading this, you are such an idiot, wasting your time, don't you have anything better to do today? You continue to be a bump on a log, idle hands are a devils tool....

Does that make you want to read anymore of this blog? My point is not to make you stop reading this, but to cause you to consider the harsh words we speak and how they affect others. The saying goes we are what we eat, but have you ever considered we are just what we hear as well.

The bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:11 "Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." How did my first sentence make you feel? It hurts to hear harsh things, how are we talking to the people around us, are we building them up, are we encouraging them?
Matthew 7:12 "So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets."

If we are constantly tearing them down, are our words of encouragement ever heard? Is our voice like a loud gong, drowning out the very support we offer? 1 Corinthians 13:1 "If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal." Does love tear people down, or does it encourage them in the ways of truth? We are to encourage one another, build each other up, teach each other through love. Are we doing this in our kids, in our marriage, in our relationships?

Yes we are to discipline, but if we are not disciplining in love are we doing anything other then causing anger and hurt. We can handle bad behavior in many ways, but how does the Bible talk about dealing with things?

Hebrews 12:11 "For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it."

Proverbs 12:1 "Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid."

Hebrews 12:5-6 "And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives."

God does not just call us to lead, but also to follow. We lead by example, we may have to speak harsh words, but doing it in love is where God calls us to walk. He knew what we would go through and He knows what we will need to deal with. He is teaching us each day, are we hearing Him? He talks to us in a still small voice, are we listening for it?

Hebrews 13:17 "Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you."

My question I must ask myself, is am I replicating a Godly love? Am I speaking truth or am I being lost in the ways of the world?

Lord guide me today, let me hear Your voice. Allow my words be the meditations of my heart, may I speak not out of anger, but out of love, may I encourage and through the encouragement be a tool for you, may the words of discipline, be not to destroy, but to build up as You have built me up. May I be what You call me to be, moment by moment and surrendering all to You.