The Glittery Sword

While reading through the book of Deuteronomy on an awful hot afternoon, I came across a verse about a glittery sword. Who wouldn't want a "blinged out" sword... Jewels and sparkling glitter are an interesting distraction before a sharp piece of metal plunges into a beating heart... and it makes one pause... wow... sounds like our tongue.............

The Bible is replete with verses that compare a medieval sword with the human tongue... they are both sharp.. they both are capable of collateral damage.. they pierce the hearts... they definitely need a sheath... and so on...

Last week, I attempted to go a whole day without complaining once.. i posted this goal for the world to see and not even two seconds later was complaining about my dis functioning computer... I wasn't even thinking about what I was saying... it came naturally... and our words... reflect our hearts...

Add to our tongue some jewels and glitter... a distraction... We smile and are kind to the faces of many... and then they turn around... PLUNGE... that "glittery sword" makes its move... we miss out on so many blessings because we are to busy swinging our swords at the ones God has put in our lives to bandage... Yet we wound... we wound... we wound...

If our purpose on earth is to "satisfy the afflicted soul", and to be a "restorer of the streets to dwell in"... we cannot be backstabbers... We are to use our glittery swords to repair, restore, expose the truth, defend the afflicted, and slay the giants....

The book "Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge describes mankind as having "lost its adventure". Cubicles and computers have replaced the woods and forest... We wonder why we are so empty inside... its because we have no adventure...we have quit our desires... given up... we don't fight to do right.. we give in... and we are disgusted at ourselves... We have set no goals... and our tongues have no restraint.. we are encouraged to "fight for our rights", demand "justice", force "control"...

Our swords may be glittery... We decorate them so well... Yet we use our most powerful muscle to destroy those already destroyed long ago... One of the chapters in "Wild at Heart" poses this question. "How come when men look in their hearts they don't discover something valiant and dangerous, but instead find anger, lust, and fear? He goes on to say "There is no battle to fight".

"Without a great battle in which a man (or woman) can live and die, the fierce part of his nature goes underground and sort of simmers there in sullen anger that seems to have no reason".

In the movie Braveheart, William Wallace tells his Irish countrymen before they went to battle "Fight and you may die, run and you will live at least awhile. Every man dies, not every man really lives".


Sources:

"Wild at Heart" by John Eldredge
Braveheart
Isaiah 58:10-12
Deuteronomy 32:41