7-4-2015

 Good Morning All!!

         James 3:5; “So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.  How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!”

      I can still remember the look on his face.  It was a few years ago but the look of pain and bewilderment was striking.  We sat down and started to talk.  It seems the young man had done something and he wasn’t particularly proud of it.  In fact he was deeply embarrassed by it.  He sat down and told a friend.  He poured out his soul to his friend but in the end; the friend shared this new found knowledge with others.  The young man was now the victim of a gossip campaign which only added to his pain.  The friend, while not meaning to hurt him, shared the juicy inside information with “just a couple of concerned others” and soon it was the topic at many a coffee get together.

     It is so easy to do.  We hear some information and we simply think we have to share it and in doing so we cause more pain and more harm.  Soon we are living what James was writing about in our verse.  The tongue can cause far more damage than just about anything.  In fact James spends most of chapter 3 in his book warning his readers about taming the tongue and we still often fail to listen today.

    It is a humbling and special honor to serve as someone’s confessor.  This means that you are trusted by another person enough that the second person shares his deepest fears, worries, sins and failures with you.  He looks to you for guidance, direction, comfort, forgiveness and for a sense of healing.  Often times this person is already lacking trust and to come to you to unburden their soul requires a huge step of faith.  The role of confessor within the Christian community is common and too often it is breached because the confessor fails to hold the confidence of their fellow Christian and they share the inside information freely.  The trust that the wounded penitent showed you is now even more eroded.  This can cause the penitent to withdraw even more and cause even more pain.

    So what do we do?  First, ask yourself why am I sharing this confidence with someone else?  There can be valid reasons.  The person you are sharing with has knowledge or insight and can give you guidance to help your penitent friend.  Yet even this must be done with the strictest of care.  If the person you are sharing with has nothing to offer; then why share, why betray your penitent fellow believer?  Why add to the pain?

    We all need to be careful at all times.  It can be easy to slip and fall.  We need to pray for God’s guidance as we serve one another and bear one another’s burdens.  This is a Christian thing to do but when we carelessly share and break that trust we only cause pain.

Father, there are times when we fail to protect our wounded brothers and sisters.  We speak too freely with a careless tongue.  Forgive us when we fail.  Heal us and lead us to be more caring for our fellow man and to lead a life which is pleasing to you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret