No Other Rock

My brethren, these things ought not so to be. ~ James 3:10

Note: This devotion is from August 13

Baxter references a C.H. Spurgeon sermon that is titled “How Saints May Help the Devil“.

He then confesses he did not read the sermon, but supposed that “wicked tongues” were of the central theme. Luckily, it today’s world, it was quite easy for me to find the text and confirm his suppositions.

While Spurgeon doesn’t exactly focus on gossipers and the like, he does point out the slanderous nature of many:

One way in which sinners frequently excuse themselves is by endeavoring to get some apology for their own iniquities from the inconsistencies of God’s people. This is the reason why there is much slander in the world. A true Christian is a rebuke to the sinner, wherever he goes he is a living protest against the evil of sin. Hence it is that the worldling makes a dead set upon a pious man. His language in his heart is, “He accuses me to my face; I cannot bear the sight of his holy character; it makes the blackness of my own life appear the more terrible, when I see the whiteness of his innocence contrasting with it.” And then the worldling opens all his eyes, and labors to find a fault with the virtuous. If, however, he fails to do so, he will next try to invent a fault; he will slander the man; and if even there he fails, and the man is like Job, “perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil;” then the sinner will, like the devil of old, begin to impute some wrong motive to the Christian’s innocency.

I am well aware that there are many times in which I should bite my tongue because it has a wicked propensity to spew ill will. It’s a character flaw I have become terribly aware of and sincerely wish (and often pray) that I can change. I am convinced that the root reason I have not been able to accomplish the task is because I have been unable to convince my heart that it NEEDS to change - even though I consciously tell myself I need to do so.

Therefore, at this moment, I want to personally apologize to those I have knowingly and unknowingly hurt, annoyed, dismayed and angered at the doing of my wicked tongue. There is no way to measure the harm we have caused through our actions. The best we might hope for is to begin to consciously do more good through the same tool.

Today, I pray that you and I will bite our tongues more often when we sense that urge for wickedness.