Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: Judges 6:1-40 Luke 22:54-23:12 Proverbs 14:5-6

“With Malice Toward None”

“Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”
[Colossians 3:13]

All kinds of flaws and unpleasant things must crop up among us. We must not give vent to our anger even if we bite our tongue with our teeth, our fist strikes our eye, our foot trips, our head runs up against a wall; but we must remain thus: “well, he is your fellow member, your brother or neighbor. What do you propose to do about it? He erred; there was no malice involved, and he means no ill. Perhaps it was done in weakness and ignorance. You did receive a blow from him. It hurts, but are you willing to cast your fellow member away for this reason? It is a little spark. Blow on it, it will go out.” Otherwise, the devil will come with his venomous breath or through evil tongues and fan it into an inextinguishable fire, and it will develop into discord and hatred that cannot be allayed but will harm the whole body. For the devil is a spirit who does not desist and cease if he is not restrained.