ICS Daily Devotions
Bridle Your Tongue and Show Kindness

Luke 6:43 (NKJV) “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.

Now, since a Good Tree will produce good fruit therefore everyone will expect a Christian to be a person of integrity and to also operate the company with good moral values. It is an expectation from church members and also people in the world. They might not have articulated it as such but it is a given that Christians are different.

Someone once said to a Christian, “You should be ashamed of yourself, that is not a Christian thing to do”. Well, those were hurtful words but it could be truthful words from someone who has been observing our lives and has expectations that Christians should be different in our speech, behavior, lifestyle and work ethics. The comment came as an observation to the kind of fruit that we are producing in our lives. While we can be hurt or even feel condemned by these sort of comments, we should remember that we are supposed to be the salt and light of the world. It is good for someone to be able to speak into our lives so that it will hold us accountable.

The positional truth that is found in the Epistle to the church in Ephesus teaches us that we are holy, blameless and righteous before God in Christ. Positional truth means how God has chosen to look at us in Christ although we are imperfect in our ways. We are to intentionally walk in this positional truth as we live out the consecrated life for the Lord.

We will make adjustments to our speech and our lifestyle through the enablement and empowerment of the Holy Spirit. We should remember that we are not perfect and will never be perfect until we go to heaven. All of us are a work in progress. It is a conscientious effort through the reminder of the Holy Spirit to help us walk out the truth in our lives.

We will grow from spiritual infancy after receiving Christ as our Lord and Saviour and continue to grow spiritually as we use the word of God to renew our minds.We will grow into maturity when we are able to rightly divide the word and live out the Holy Spirit empowered life. We will always have to deal with the flesh even when we have grown or continue to grow in the Lord. The natural instinct is for us to respond in the flesh rather than yield to the Holy Spirit especially when we are hurt or offended.

We have to remind ourselves that we are connected to God who will enable us to produce the right kind of fruit in our lives. In fact, the fruit of the Holy Spirit is already present in us when we are born-again, therefore we need to allow it to be evident in our lives. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is shown when we exercise the ability to bridle our tongue with the fruit of self-control, patience, kindness and goodness towards the person whenever we are tempted to lash out at them.

Sermon Series – Ouch! It Hurts!