I have longed believed God when He says that His word will not return to Him void, meaning that His word will accomplish what He intended for it to do. This has been the case with so many who have reacted to my writings on slander; we have all been convicted about slandering and even enabling slanderers by being that welcoming ear. The following is the testimony of how one reader allowed “Rid Yourself of Slander, Part 1” to penetrate her heart and to be open to God’s correction:

By Abbey Waterman

Abbey Waterman with husband, Kevin, and son, Kevin Jr.

James 3:6 says: “The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” This not only refers to harsh slanderous words. Charm (is deceptive), lying, gossip, contention, strife, peace destroyers, and glory thieves are all hell fires full of corruption sparked by the tongue. Selfish sweet sappy manipulators are included in this bunch as well. It is relatively simple to recognize my sin with its brash, cutting, coarse destruction. I grieve for destroying the Kingdom in the hearts of God’s people in such a heinous fashion. Today, I learned (again) about tongue slashing (the beam in my eye) and the less obvious fires of the tongue (splinters) that are sly, subtle, slow burning and smoldering.

I hate sin and it makes me mad, angry even. God is teaching me how to allow anger to be the dutiful alarm system to sin that He intended. When the alarm is sounded and sin is recognized, then the bothersome noisy device should be turned off! Ephesians 4:29 says, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.” After acknowledging my own sin, we received new revelation (at least for our family).

Thanks for the tasteful correction!

On Monday, I told you how much I like poet, scholar and activist Sonia Sanchez. Even though she has historically been one of my sheroes, one of her quotations struck me as curious, and I asked you what you thought about it: “…I write to keep in contact with our ancestors, (emphasis mine) and to spread truth to people.” One reader said she didn’t believe that Sanchez was talking about worshipping the dead. She said, “I keep in contact with my ancestors through genealogies and history.” I acknowledge this as a possibility, especially because, as the reader said, we don’t know the context of the Sanchez quotation. But if Sanchez wasn’t talking about worshipping the dead, then I just wonder why she didn’t use different language. For instance, if she meant acknowledging their contributions, she could have said, “I write to acknowledge our ancestors.” If she meant to make our family lineage known, then she could have said, “I write to make our family lineage known.” I also thought about her choice of words in other ways:

• When you contact someone you talk to them.
• When you keep in contact with someone you build a relationship with them.
• When you want to acknowledge those who have come before you typically you use the term elders or foreparents.
• When you’re speaking about dead people you typically say ancestors.

These are the beginnings of my thoughts. I plan to go see Sanchez tonight at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit where she will give a lecture. Maybe I’ll have a chance to get more insight about the quotation or even get a chance to ask her directly about it. I’ll let you know.

Copyright 2009 by Rhonda J. Smith