Making Yourself Look Good – Part 2

We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check. James 3:2

When you’re upset, it’s tempting to ‘hand out other people’s dirty laundry’. But making yourself look good at somebody else’s expense always backfires. One Christian author observes:‘That righteous feeling turns to shame faster than you can walk away, hang up the phone, or hit “send”…I can’t emphasize enough how crucial it is to get control over your tongue. I wish someone had warned me to stop talking and start praying.’ A lady named Michelle learned her lesson the hard way. She was having lunch with a co-worker at a restaurant and they visited the ladies’ toilet. While they were fixing their hair they started to talk about people at work who drove them crazy. Immediately Michelle launched into an attack about Beth, a co-worker who had no idea how much trouble she created for the rest of the team. As Michelle prepared to launch into more specifics, a cubicle door opened and out walked Beth, flushed and upset. In a split second what felt like a pressure-relief session turned into an embarrassing mess…Beth ran out in tears, and Michelle couldn’t take back the words she’d said. Beth never returned to work, and the next day she resigned. While her co-workers openly cheered what they considered to be good news, Michelle was miserable…She tried to call Beth, and even wrote a letter of apology, but there was no response. And what’s worse, Michelle is a Christian and Beth made no such profession. Treat others the way you’d like to be treated(Matthew 7:12). What goes around comes around, and idle chatter will surely come back to haunt you.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, forgive me when I fail at using my words to build up people. Help me talk as if who I am talking about is standing right there. In Jesus’ Name, Amen