July
27, 2008
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Action
Required: Tame Your Tongue
There's
a marvelous story about a young man in a Highland village of
Scotland who because of envy and hatred passed on a very
depreciating, destroying story about another man in the
village. As a result, the rumor spread until the man's
reputation was absolutely destroyed. He used his tongue to
commit character assassination. He destroyed the man.
And then through a discovery of the real fact he realized
that he had passed on a story which was untrue. And so, he
went to the local pastor of the village hoping that he could
be absolved for this. And the pastor said, "Tell me. What is
it that you said?" And he told him. And he said, "Now can I
be forgiven?" He said, "Oh no, not that quickly." He said, "I
want you to do something for me. Take a whole bag of
feathers. I want you to go all around the village and put one
feather in every dooryard."
The
man thought that was a very unusual instruction from a
clergyman. But wanting to be forgiven, he obeyed. And so he
went all over the village and out around the outskirts of the
town and put one feather in every dooryard. Then he came
back, and said to the local pastor "Now, may I be forgiven?"
And
the minister said, "Oh no, not yet. I want you to take that
same bag and go and pick up all those feathers." He said,
"Why, that's absurd, Pastor. I can't do that. The wind has
carried them away." And, indeed, that's what happens when we
have not tamed our tongue.
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NORTH RALEIGH CHURCH OF THE NAZARENE
9200
Strickland Road
Raleigh, North Carolina 27615
919.870.1141 Phone
919.870.1447 Fax
web@nrnazarene.org