TLIC Family. PROVERBS. JULY 9: FIRE.

THINK TOGETHER.

Have you said anything mean or unkind today?

READ TOGETHER

Proverbs 16:27. A worthless man plots evil, and his speech is like a scorching fire.

When I was in sixth grade my friend and I decided it would be fun to play with fire in the woods behind his house. Let’s just say things didn’t go as planned and soon fire trucks were arriving to put out a pretty big fire.

Solomon says that is what our words are like – a scorching fire. The destructive power of what we say spreads quickly, especially with the internet and social media. Have you ever had someone say something mean or unkind about you and others repeated and spread it around? If you have, then you know how painful that can be. Or maybe you are the one who spreads unkind things some times. Are you a gossip? Do you talk about other people’s business as if it is your own?

James, the brother of Jesus said the same thing as Solomon concerning our words:

James 3:5-8. ⁵How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! ⁶And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ⁸…no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

How does James describe our tongues (our words)? Yes, he says they are like a blazing fire. But not only does the fire of our words destroy others, James says it destroys us from the inside out too – setting on fire the entire course of life.

Jesus is the only person who never said an unkind word. Yes, he said hard things to people, but always from love and truth. He never said things just to make himself look good, or just to make others look bad. When we remember how much Jesus loves us, we can choose kind words too. Why? Because we don’t have to make ourselves look better than others, we can just trust Jesus’s goodness instead.

Because of Jesus we never have to make ourselves look good.

With Jesus we can choose kind words.

DO SOMETHING TOGETHER

Take some time to teach your kids about the dangers of literal fire (do you have fire safety rules?), and the danger of unkind words.

PRAY TOGETHER

Jesus, keep me from saying mean things that spread like dangerous fire. Help me to trust your love and say kind things instead. Amen.