If you found out that every word of your next phone call would be played back for people to hear for the next 2,000 years, would you have to change how you spoke? If the next email or text message you send is archived for perpetuity, how differently would you write? If I told you that children might look to your words for wisdom in 700 years, would you craft them more carefully?
Herod was careless with the life of John the Baptist. He felt like it was more important to uphold his image than to spare the life of John. He never would've imagined that John the Baptist, an iteninerant preacher with camel's hair for clothing and some odd ideas about personal hygiene, might someday be viewed as more important than him. He would've laughed at the thought, so he was careless with John's life.
May we never be careless with our words to the extent that they might harm another. May we recognize that each person has eternal importance and value to God. Each person you talk to is precious and beloved enough by God for Jesus Christ to die on a cross for that person. Ponder that as you speak, as you write, and may it change the way we treat one another, that we may handle each other with care and grace.
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