April 16 A Piece of Candy

April 16

A Piece of Candy

Pr 15:1 ¶ A soft answer turneth away wrath:

but grievous words stir up anger.

The can of hard candy always sat on the top of the desk. When I completed my notes from the job I had just finished I reached for the can. As I opened it one of the women who worked in the shop stopped at the desk to do some paperwork.

“Want one?” I offered, before snapping the lid back on the can

“Thanks.” She responded as she unwrapped the candy.

I probably should have walked to the other side of the shop to Alice, the other woman who worked in my shop, and offered her a candy. But she was busy in the middle of a job, and the can was always available to anyone who wanted a hard candy, so I didn’t bother.  

Now Alice was a nice lady but she seemed a little insecure. The other woman in the shop was attractive, outgoing and always seemed happy. Alice was none of those things and I think it added to her insecurity. The result was her work suffered and there came a point when I had to call her into the office. As I explained the reasons why I was dismissing her she asked if she could tell me something and said

“When you have employees, you should treat them both alike!” I knew she was referring to the time a couple weeks earlier when I did not walk across the shop and give her a candy. I also knew she wanted an opening to unload her frustrations on me. Instead of responding “Oh I always treat my workers equally” so she could respond with her example of my unfairness, I paused a moment. Then I simple smiled and said “Thank you Alice. That’s a good idea.”

It was not the answer she had expected. There was no easy way for her to engage me in an argument so she paused a moment then left the office.

A side note to this story is I had contacted a motel owner I knew who needed someone to clean rooms. I told Alice to stop at his motel. He hired her. Alice did not have the skills to work in my shop but she was a great homemaker and did a great job for him.

Jesus was a master of the soft answer. Lawyers, governors, and Pharisee’s all tried to trap him with loaded questions but His soft answer left no opportunity for wrath.

In Mark 12 we see an example of Christ giving a soft answer.

Mr 12:13 ¶ And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words.

They asked Christ “Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not?”

This seemingly innocent question was somewhat like our modern day question “Have you stopped beating your wife?” There is not a good answer. If Christ had responded yes, we should pay tribute the people would have seen him as siding with the Roman government. If on the other hand he said no we should not pay tribute they could have turned him into the Roman officials for opposing the tribute.  

His wonderful soft response was “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's” thus side stepping their trap.

In today’s world people want to have the last word. It starts in childhood. “Tis so”, “Tain’t neither”,  “Tis to”, Tain’t neither” “Tis”, Tain’t”  etc. We have all heard a variation of children arguing about something. About all that changes is the vocabulary as we mature. I guess it is just human nature.

That may be why the Bible has so many comments about what and how we talk to one another.

The devotional thought for today is to think of some of the many verses that guide us in our speech and how we should respond to others. Here are a few verses to get us started;

Col 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Pr 21:23 ¶ Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue

keepeth his soul from troubles. 

That should get us started. There are so many verses on how we should talk because we need a daily reminder. May God’s blessing be on us today as we meditate on how we should answer people. May our tongues not be instruments to stir up wrath, but bless people today. May God keep us and our tongues today. 

Jas 1:26 If any man among you seem to be

religious, and bridleth not his tongue,

but deceiveth his own heart,

this man's religion is vain.