a wise person won't emphasize other people’s mistakes. and we all make mistakes even those who are dumb enough to always emphasize other people’s mistakes make mistakes.
james 3.17 (niv) says, wisdom is...full of mercy and good fruit.
do you jump on people every time they blunder, every time they blow it and fumble it? do you always use everybody in your family as the butt of your jokes? that is dumb.
wisdom is full of mercy. i won't emphasize your mistakes.
do you ever let people go or do you keep hounding their past mistakes? do you hold them in leverage and they never can be set free even if they have asked for forgiveness? "remember the time you did…" you're always holding on and bringing up the past for leverage. that's dumb. if i'm wise, i won't emphasize your mistakes. i'll be full of mercy. i'll give you what you need, not what you deserve.
two guys at a convention with their wives. they were long, lost friends. they hadn't seen each other for a number of years so they sat in the lobby all night talking. now they knew they would be in trouble with their wives but they just kept on talking. finally they went back to their rooms.
the next morning they happened to see each other and the one asked, "what did your wife think?" the other guy said, "well when i walked in the room my wife got all historical." don't you mean hysterical." no historical. she told me everything that i had ever done wrong."
proverbs 17.9 (ms), overlook an offense and bond a friendship; fasten on to a slight and—good-bye, friend!
if you're wise you don't rub it in, you rub it out. you don't hold it over their heads, you forget it. when somebody stumbles, you don't judge them, you encourage them. we don't need judgment, we need encouragement when we stumble.
are you that way at home? if somebody forgets something – forgets to fill the car with gas and you run out on the freeway, somebody forgets to bring the mail in, how are you? how do you handle that? do you rub it in or do you rub it out? the wise thing is to not emphasize the mistake.
wisdom is full of mercy and good fruit. good fruit is kind actions, it's something you do. you don't just show sympathy, you don't just say, "i feel for you… you brought it on yourself." you do something about it. you take action, it's a kindness. it's being a doer of the word.
james 2:12 (ms), kind mercy wins over harsh judgment every time. mercy is a greater principle than judging.
james says, a wise person won't emphasize another person’s mistakes.
just some thoughts up here on the front porch…
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