What Did They Say?

21 Don’t pay attention to everything people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you, 22 for in your heart you know that many times you yourself have cursed others. Ecclesiastes 7:21-22

“What did they say?” I want to know. When I hear they talked about me, I feel like I’m outside the room and suddenly need to get in.

I suppose knowing will settle something, but usually it gives me more to carry. One sentence can follow me into every conversation with that person. Before long, I relate to a sentence instead of a person.

The Teacher seems to think some words I am better off never hearing. Then he reminds me of the words I have spoken. I want someone else’s careless words to reveal their whole heart, even as I hope mine will be understood in context.

Jesus frees me from managing every room I am not in. He knows what it is to be misunderstood and spoken against, yet He entrusted Himself to the Father. My reputation is safer in His hands than mine.

And the person who said something about me needs the same mercy I do. Neither of us is the worst sentence we have ever spoken.

Father, I confess how tightly I hold my reputation. When I want to know every word and manage every room, turn my attention back to Jesus. Teach me to trust Your care for me and extend that same mercy to others, so I leave my reputation in Your hands.