Be Careful How We Speak
I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 19th of October, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.
We go straight to the Gospel of Matthew 5:22:
”But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Those are strong words, spoken by the Master, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We need to be very careful when we use those words!
There was a famous Scottish poet. His name was Robert Burns, and he lived a long time ago. He said, “A man is a man for all that.” What does that mean, Angus? Well, it means that he is not an animal. He is a man, a creation of God, therefore, treat him as such. We need to be careful how we speak.
Why am I speaking to you this morning about this very fact? Because a very dear friend of mine has just passed away. He gave his life to Jesus in our little Christian coffee bar in Greytown, many, many years ago. He died in his sixties. I think he gave his life to the Lord when he was a young teenager, maybe 14 or 15, and he became a friend of mine over the years. But he struggled. He struggled with mental illness and was very often mistaken for the things he said and did. He was an immensely strong man, very powerfully built, but I loved him dearly.
I can tell you right now that today, he is in the presence of Jesus Christ. Why? Because he loved God with a passion. I have not met many men who could memorise scripture verses like he could. What an incredible man. He used to love going up the mountains with me. We used to walk the mountains together. We need to really be careful that we don’t judge a book by it’s cover. We make that mistake too often, don’t we? He knew my birthday. I didn’t know his. He never, ever forgot to wish me happy birthday, and he knew the birthdays of every single member of my family, oh yes.
Have you heard of a man named John Nash? He won the Nobel Prize for mathematics, but he struggled with mental illness all his life. They made a movie about him called, “A Beautiful Mind.” Folks, I want to tell you something now, that movie and my dear friend have taught me one thing - to be kind, gracious and gentle with people who struggle with mental illness, because I want to tell you, they are definitely not fools. Let us love our fellowman, because he is a creation of God.
Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day, goodbye.