Scripture:
It is amazing how quickly we can break someone down and do real damage with just our words. In 2 Timothy we are told not to have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments. I think we tend to forget how easily we can hurt someone with just our words. I know I have said things I regretted in the heat of an argument.
Instead of taking part of a heated argument we need to focus on God. God wants us to act in love with mercy and grace. After all isn't that the model of Christ? Didn't Jesus show mercy to everyone. Doesn't Jesus love everyone? Something that I try to tell myself is that Jesus loves that person just as much as He loves me. If Jesus loves them then shouldn't I treat them accordingly? We are told to love our enemies. Who do we consider an enemy? Love others as ourselves is also mandated to us as the second greatest command by God.
Most of all we must be attentive to hear God speak to us. Samuel didn't realize it was God speaking. He went to Eli three times before it was pointed out that God was speaking. How often does God speak to us and we do not realize He is speaking? We need to be still and listen to the words God would speak to us. We cannot hear God if we are in a heated argument. We cannot hear God through the noise and distractions all around us. God will speak but we will not hear.
Think of a radio playing softly in the car. The kids are yelling and carrying on. The windows are down and the wind is blowing. Through all the noise around you cannot hear the radio. Through all the noise in life we cannot hear God speaking to us. We need to still our tongues calm our spirits so that we might hear the voice of God. Let us remove the distractions around us so that we might focus on God. After all of this maybe we can find it a bit easier to love our enemies and others as ourselves. Then maybe we will refrain from foolish and stupid arguments...
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