Psalm 141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips. NIV
James 3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things out not to be so. NIV
I’ve been struggling with this post for about a month now. If you know me, you know that what comes into my head, usually comes out of my mouth. One of the biggest spiritual battles I have ever fought is learning not to fight back when someone hurts my feelings. It seems that this is the year for Satan to use people who should be close to me in my life as his ultimate weapons to try to keep me from doing God’s will. Then that starts the ball rolling towards self-doubt and conviction that maybe something is terribly wrong with me to make others dislike me so much. And there you go. Trying to change a sinful habit is not easy at all, especially in this day of social media.
I have to confess. I have been a nasty person on social media. I have hurt feelings, been judgmental, got fired up, and lost friendships over stupid stuff. This past year, a very good friend of mine and I had a long conversation about me. He loved me enough to talk to me in a very open way to show me that, basically, I was being a social media jerk and that I was hurting people who I was supposed to consider friends. God used him in a powerful way that day. Am I “social media sinless” now? No….but I’m working on it. Am I still a hypocrite at times? Ummmm...yes, shamefully.
What has happened to people? When did we become a society of such souls who think that hurtful words and bullying, sly little comments, memes (which you spend hours finding just the right one to hurt someone) become the norm? What has happened is Satan. Satan is having a field day, every day, on social media. And you know what is even scarier? Social media is so addictive that it is ruining peoples lives. Marriages are falling apart. Children are being neglected while parents have their devices stuck in their faces instead of being engaged with them. People are losing their jobs. People are losing their LIVES because they are on their devices while driving. On and on I could go. Satan…..
God, this week has been extremely trying for me. I’m really struggling with the desire to “hurt back”. So far, You’ve filled me with conviction. Thank You for guarding my lips...and my fingers. It’s hard, but I know that how I react is how people will see me. It would be so easy to share some creative joke publicly, and perhaps it would be funny to some…...but there is always a little bit of truth in a joke….a little bit of anger...a little bit of pain….a little bit of “I hope that hurts you back”...
Satan, I refuse to let you use me to give you glory. I will not run this one in and put points on your scoreboard. You need to go on back to hell and leave me alone. God, You got this.
