"Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom."
James 3:9-13
This is kind of like the "no man can serve two masters" scripture. So often, we try to divide our affections... showing loyalty and love to certain people, and disdain for others. We think this shows loyalty, or love. But what it actually shows is inner conflict and incompleteness. It shows that we haven't decided who we want to be yet. We can't love God and hate our neighbor... no matter how worthy of hatred we believe him to be. In order to become better people we need to fill ourselves with love... with no room for the waste and corruption of hatred. It's like putting gasoline and water in the tank of our car. It isn't going to be a very successful drive, and evidence of that corrupt fuel will keep popping up, impacting our ability to succeed.
Today, let's cleanse ourselves of the bad and fill ourselves only with love. Let's show love to the people around us, whether they are in our inner circles or not. Let's not show disdain for anyone. Let's be kind, and show who we are through our good conversations with everyone we meet.
Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.
Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?
Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? so can no fountain both yield salt water and fresh.
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom."
James 3:9-13
This is kind of like the "no man can serve two masters" scripture. So often, we try to divide our affections... showing loyalty and love to certain people, and disdain for others. We think this shows loyalty, or love. But what it actually shows is inner conflict and incompleteness. It shows that we haven't decided who we want to be yet. We can't love God and hate our neighbor... no matter how worthy of hatred we believe him to be. In order to become better people we need to fill ourselves with love... with no room for the waste and corruption of hatred. It's like putting gasoline and water in the tank of our car. It isn't going to be a very successful drive, and evidence of that corrupt fuel will keep popping up, impacting our ability to succeed.
Today, let's cleanse ourselves of the bad and fill ourselves only with love. Let's show love to the people around us, whether they are in our inner circles or not. Let's not show disdain for anyone. Let's be kind, and show who we are through our good conversations with everyone we meet.
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