Today I was spending some alone time with the Lord and I suddenly had the most random thought: “ If a Bombardier new his bomb would kill innocent people would he push the button to drop the bomb?” This is of course a rhetorical question, for I am convinced that every Bombardier is instructed and trained as to how to handle and justify the probability of innocent lives being lost, after all war is not fair. However I began to ponder this question with a rather different take on it; I began to think of the bombs that each one of us drop on people every day with no thought of their consequence or action. What bombs you ask? The ones that are birthed in our heart, that pass through our lips, and pour out onto others with all too often permanently devastating consequences. Matthew 15:18-20 records Jesus speaking these words: “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart and they defile a man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication's, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.” In this section of scripture Jesus is speaking to the religious leaders, those who stand in self righteous judgment based upon the law. Jesus on the other hand says that judging one for breaking the mosaic law is not an action we take in our self righteous indignation. But rather h we are to control ourselves by testing our thoughts with the word and tempering our actions by the Holy Spirit. All too often we (myself included) spew out our opinions, which are all to often based upon opinion, experience, or knowledge, tor are tempered by a filter of emotion, passion, or even anger, and what comes out of our mouth is nothing more than an emotional bomb that destroys and wounds innocent people. The book of James says this this about the tongue in chapter three verses 4-11: “Look also at ships; although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the whole course of nature, and is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is unruly evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren these things ought not to be so. Does a spring set forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?
I read these two passages and my heart aches for the innocent blood I and all to many other believers have shed with the words that have come from our mouths. I envision far too many of us believers as bombardier’s lying in the belly of a great flying ship randomly dropping bombs of destruction on the children of God with no regard as to the outcome. in our own self righteous indignation we justify our judgment and seek to purge the perceived sins or actions of others by inflicting upon them permanent emotional scars all in the name of righteousness.
If the body of Christ truly is a body then what purpose do we serve when we inflict pain and injury upon ourselves? We surely are not serving ourselves or the one who made us well, we are truly in fact only serving the one who has set himself against all things of God. Matthew eighteen gives us a very clear view of how to handle conflicts amongst ourselves as well as the judgment that awaits those who sit in judgment and forget the grace and mercy that is given to them by the Father. The same grace and mercy that we are to pass on to one another. My heart aches today as I think of those in my life whom I have bombed, those who I have hurt and even scarred, I pray for them to be healed, I seek their forgiveness, and I now do all I can to avoid speaking before seeking. “He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” and I for one want to be a tool of God used for building His kingdom and bringing Him glory, not one who drops bombs of destruction upon His children hoping to somehow purge them of their so I have judged evil actions. I will end with this, a challenge for all who believe to read 1Corintians the 13th chapter and remember that this is the love the Lord has for us, and the same love is what He calls us to have for one another, no matter how difficult it may be or how much pride we must swallow. My sleep is much better these nights, and my days are filled with joy, for now the problems of this world they are His and my thoughts are no longer cluttered with worry, judgment, or accusation. I pray the same for you, I pray that the freedom of loving unconditionally will fall upon is all for when it does the greatest revival of all will fall upon all mankind. You see when we walk in freedom and not in judgment who we are truly becomes attractive to those who are seeking love and acceptance and isn’t that really what we all are truly seeking? If not, why not?
Pastor Gene Burroughs
Shasta Lake Church
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