A Soft Answer

By the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, let us earnestly seek to soften our tongues rather than sharpen them. The Lord's ways are not our ways, or His thoughts our thoughts. It would seem that a sharpened tongue would send a word deeper than a soft word could, but His ways are not our ways. When responding to an aggressive word, a sharp word will often only serve to cut or wound. It will not likely turn the wrath away, only delay the battle till another day. A soft answer on the other hand is like the substance asbestos. Although, now largely outlawed, it was once the leading fire retardent in the world. The qualities that made it that way were that it was soft, easily applied to multiple types of surfaces and very resistant to flame.

A soft answer is like asbestos in that it takes the full brunt of the flames without catching fire itself. We are not much help to a situation when we allow vehement flames to simply catch us on fire and then go running around spreading the flames to others.

Remember this in a situation where the flames of tension and confusion have already been at work. It is very likely that both sides in such a fire are hearing things that are difficult to deal with. Large fires always send embers high aloft and widespread. Remember, both sides in such a fire have similar emmotions, and the same temptatons to insecurity and carnal reactions that we all are subject to. The enemy uses this confusion to supply weapons to both sides in hopes that they will continue to go at it with each other. Let's be careful not to find ourselves holding hands with the accuser of our brothers or using the ammo he is happy to supply. We may all have read or heard things difficult to hear, such as statements that are unfair or extreme that place us in a bad light. Be careful not to be set ablaze by such things and remember that our own tongues have been used by the enemy to do this to others numerous times.

In these situations, let us not miss the opportunity we have to forgive others as we have been forgiven. Let's especially remember that we have often yielded to hurt and missed the way of escape oursleves. If it becomes obvious that others have missed the way of escape, let's not forget how we too have been shown mercy for the very same errors.

May those who have grown in this area lead the way for others and be examples of just how much heat they can take without catching fire. Another suggestion for avoiding the fire season - stay saturated with living water. The rainy season is not usually a time of fire hazard in many areas. Things that are fresh and green don't burn that easily.