| Daily Devotional for December 1, 2022 Chris is our volunteer tech guru. He works for a large computer company. He got a patent for the company a few months ago. I asked how he personally benefitted from getting a patent for the company. He said, “I get a plague on the wall and a whole lot of street cred in nerd world.” I got it. The other day, Chris was in Dennis Hall working on a computer. It was one of the ones I didn’t break. I stuck my head in the office and said, “Do you need my help?” At that moment, I saw a true look of terror wash across his face. I know Chris wanted to scream, “Please don’t ever touch the computers again.” Instead, Chris smiled and calmly said, “No thank you.” I thought that was very gentlemanly thing to do. We could all learn from Chris. There is no telling how much damage I have done through the years by shifting my mouth into overdrive before I put my brain into gear. In fact, there have been times I have stuck my foot into my mouth all the way up to my knee. This would never have happened if I had considered the harm my words would bring. If you speak before you think, there is the tremendous possibility you will cause unintended harm. Don’t do it. James cautions us to take it slow and make sure our words count for the good instead of bad. He said, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:19-20) A good rule of thumb is to always count to ten before responding to an inflammatory remark. That might just save the day. Prayer: Dear Gracious Heavenly God, please allow me to use my words to build up instead of tear down. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. Words matter. Make them count. Also, just for the record, I am a true wizz at solving technical problems. I just punch buttons until someone on the church staff rescues the computer. It works every time. I pray your day is filled with joy and laughter. Tom Robbins |
Published
Daily Devotionals by Dr. Tom Robbins 