“For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body.” James 3:2

Look in the Mirror

After many, many times of expounding on the virtues of listening to the small, still voice of the Lord—after all the times I prompted others not to “ignore the nudge” of the Spirit—I ignored the Spirit’s nudge myself.

“So I spoke to you; yet you would not listen, but rebelled against the command of the Lord…” (Deuteronomy 1:43).

I knew better than to write that snide remark on that text. Even as I typed it into my phone, I was saying to myself, “This one should be deleted.” Yet, when I finished it, I unthinkingly hit “send.” To make matters worse—the person I accidentally sent it to was the person I was being snide about. I know you can imagine my shame.

“But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:8-9).

I shouldn’t have been thinking those thoughts in the first place. But if I did think them in my heart, I should not have committed the thoughts to words—words that cannot be taken back, words that last forever.

“’Let none of you think evil in your heart against your neighbor; and do not love a false oath. For all these are things that I hate,’ says the Lord” (Zechariah 8:17).

I’m not beating myself up. I’m repenting, and asking God’s forgiveness. I’m taking a long, hard look at who I really am, and where it conflicts with who I merely imagine myself to be. We all have to do this. I make no excuses. I have no defense. I was wrong. I hurt the person, and I’ve sinned against the Lord.

“For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:23-25).

I want to get rid of this feeling of remorse, but I know that I MUST feel the pain I have caused another. It is the way I will learn this lesson (again); it is the only way I will remember it. I must treat it as important as it really is, and I must face who I am apart from Christ.

Thank You for Your forgiveness and cleansing. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Help me—help us all—not to grieve Your Spirit. Amen.