I've been deeply hurt by words.  I have recovered from sticks and stones and broken bones.  I don't know who dreamed up that little nursery rhyme but it isn't true.   Words do hurt others and according to Jesus, words hurt those who say hurtful words.  Mt 15:18-20 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.'  The Pharisees were more worried about the cermonial cleansing of their hands than they were about the condition of their hearts.  The heart is the source of words and the place that needs serious attention if we are to prosper in life.  According to Jesus, it is not enough to merely avoid murdering someone, we should also be addressing the attitudes of the heart that lead to murder.  Contempt for other people means that we view them as beneath us or as worthless.  There is no such thing as a worthless human being!  The words we use to describe other people reveal our "heart view."  It is not enough to wash out the mouth or bite the tongue, we need a deeper transformation.  We need to cooperate with God in the "renovation of the heart."  This is what God wants to do, this is His will.  This is the narrow path that leads to life!  This is the true calling for all disciples...to end up with the heart and mind of Christ.  We'll be talking about this specific subject on Sunday as we continue our study in the Sermon on the Mount (The Manifesto of the King).

William Cowper had a miserable childhood; his mother died when he was six and he was placed in a boarding school where he was constantly bullied.  Terrors of life overwhelmed him to the point that he tried to commit suicide twice.  In 1756 he was committed to an asylum where he was assigned a Christian doctor.  Part of the terror that plagued him was the knowledge of his sin.  He had written and said often, "My sin, my sin, O for some fountain open for my cleansing."  He did not know where to turn until his doctor introduced him to the person and work of Christ.  When he recounted his conversion, he referred to Romans 3:25,26 "God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."  These verses "turned the light on" in his heart and gave him peace, he later wrote the Hymn "There is a Fountain."  The opening lines express his testimony, "There is a fountain filled with blood, Drawn from Immanuel's veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood, Lose all their guilty stains."  Cowper found what millions have learned to be true over the past 2,000 years, the cross of Jesus has provided the means for wicked sinners to be declared righteous through faith.  The blood of the God-Man was sufficient for our cleansing and this pardon is available by faith.  Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing flood?