“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” – Matthew 5:22
Be careful what you think and say about other people made in God’s image! King Jesus doesn’t just care about your formal behavior. Jesus always, always, always cares about your heart, your mind, the internal conversations in your head, and the words that spill out of your mouth when you’re frustrated, angry, or impatient.
As people rescued from our sin by Christ’s sacrifice and made new creation in Him, that new creation must radically change how we think about and treat other people, even those who drive us crazy. Let the Holy Spirit work in your heart. Let Scripture work in your mind. Let Jesus work in your soul so that you begin to view and think of people in the same way He does.
Our sin nailed Jesus to the cross, yet He still loves us and reaches out to touch us gently with forgiveness. We fail Him over and over again, yet He never calls us “fool”, insults us, or becomes angry with us. We misrepresent Him regularly and disobey Him routinely, yet He holds onto us in love rather than rejecting us as we deserve.
Because Jesus treats us this way, He expects us to treat others the same way – with patience, humility, dignity, respect, and grace they don’t deserve. Train yourself not to condemn others when they cut you off in traffic, slow you down in the grocery store, or infuriate you on TV. Work to take “fool” out of your vocabulary. Love your neighbor as yourself!