October 7, 2019 – Click here to listen
I get thousands of letters and some of them are just beyond the pale. Atheists, perverts, abortion nuts, you name it write and tell me off year in and year out. I’ve had more than one death threat. One atheist wrote just recently F*** God, F***Jesus, and F*** everything about Christians like you. I admit I wanted to put a fist in his blaspheming mouth and told him so. I do however, expect this from unbelievers. 1 Cor. 2:14 – The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
But what about those who do have the Spirit? Over the weekend I was cleaning out my junk mail folder and found a letter from a reader who said my post for the previous day was “stale reading.” I wrote and told him that after 21 years of writing Words for the Day five days a week maybe I was getting a little stale. I suggested he give it a try and write some fresher material. He quickly let me know that he wrote a devotional daily and that I was thin skinned and later added egoist, and other descriptors that were not so nice. One of his complaints seemed to be that I only responded to his e-mails when he criticized me and never when he wrote about other subjects. I told him and I’ll say to anyone else who is reading this and feels slighted, that I cannot respond to every e-mail, text, phone call, Facebook request or message that I receive. It is physically impossible for one person to do so. They come from all over the world and there are just too many for one man to process.
Our conversation regressed and finally I rose to the bait. After reading to a few choice words of his I’d had enough and told him he had a big mouth among other things. I ended my diatribe by saying, “People like you make it hard to be a Christian and I’m sure Satan revels in it and places you there in order to antagonize me. He’s using you pal. I woke up in a great mood this morning. I did my Internet Bible study for the fellows and thought I was ready to face all Satan had to throw at me. Now I’m angry and stressed that I allowed Satan to have his way with me and I owe much of that to you, so thanks . . . For nothing. Get a life . . .”
He responded, “You sir, do have a very thin skin. I have seen it in your daily postings and how you have shared stories of your interactions with others. If I have offended you today I ask your forgiveness. It was not my intent for this dialogue to escalate to this extent. I will ask the Lord for forgiveness for my part for offending you. I’m sorry that I have put you in such a foul mood. I hope that my apology does not find its way into your junk mailbox and that you except it with all sincerity. May God bless the rest of your day and the rest of your weekend.
He added, “The Lord has blessed me immensely. I go to a great church, I am on the board of a Christian school, and I have a wonderful family. I have read your book and my family and I have shared it with many folks because your life has been so impactful. I enjoy reading your words for the day and you and I have corresponded in the past.” He ended the thread by saying “Let’s just say that on Saturday October 5, two old sinners got into a spat but thanks to the blood of Jesus, they are both healed! – Selah . . .”
So, we forgave each other and made up. My reflections on this matter are, if you cannot say something nice to someone then don’t say anything. However, Some just cannot seem to let any good deed go unpunished. I don’t get paid for writing this post, and I could care less about ego, and my opinion of myself is far lower than my worst enemy’s opinion of me. I write it to help equip others to face this world by offering biblical truths and applying them to real life situations that I observe daily.
As for being thin skinned, I look at it more like I get sick and tired of people criticizing my Lord, my church, and those who are trying to serve the Lord including me. So, if you hear a sermon at church and the pastor doesn’t hit the mark, cut him some slack, or just maybe look at it like maybe that particular message was for someone else. Out of curiosity I went back to feedback for the post that man had ridiculed as being stale and another reader had written: Hi Bob! This is one of the most beautiful notes that you have sent out! Thank you!
I write WFTD daily. Nothing is done ahead of time. I get up each morning and ask the Holy Spirit what I should write about and I write it. Each one I write is not for everyone, but I can guarantee you that I get correspondence every single day from someone that tells me that day’s post struck home.
I was thinking of the Bible passage where Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all those that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those selling doves, And said to them, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.” We tend to think of Jesus as mild mannered, loving and docile; however, He demonstrated righteous anger. I know I don’t demonstrate righteous anger all of the time, but like Jesus, I do get angry now and then.
Jude 1:19
These are the ones who cause divisions, who are worldly and devoid of the Spirit.