我常想，那句老话“棍棒和石头可以打断我的骨头，但言语永远不会伤害我”有点太夸张了。严厉的话、辱骂和侮辱当然会造成伤害，特别是当它们出自我们信任之人的口时。被侮辱的感觉绝不会好，哪怕是被陌生人侮辱。
因此，我们的本能往往是维护自己，抵制侮辱。我们认为，人们不应该这样对待我们，而且在大多数情况下，他们的确不应该。
但这句箴言却把我们引向相反的方向。为什么？为什么立即做出恼怒的反应是愚蠢的，而忍辱藏羞是明智的？这不是让人们继续伤害我们或他人吗？
让我们明确一点：正确处理不恰当和伤害性的行为是很重要的。但这并不意味着要用同样的行为来还击。
请牢记耶稣，先知们预言祂将“被人藐视，被人厌弃…他被藐视，好像被人掩面不看的一样；我们也不尊重他”（赛 53:3）。
耶稣能够忍受上百次，甚至上千次的侮辱、嘲笑和厌弃，因为祂知道祂是谁，他被呼召去做什么，以及天父是多么爱祂。
我们也能这样吗？
父啊，帮助我活在你的爱中，不管别人怎么说，让我牢记我在你里面的身份。帮助我在你里面找到力量。阿们。
箴言 12:16
16愚妄人的恼怒立时显露，通达人能忍辱藏羞。
"Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult." - Proverbs 12:16
I've often thought that the old saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me" is a bit ambitious. Harsh words, name-calling, and insults certainly do hurt, especially when they come from people we thought we could trust. It never feels good to be insulted, even by a stranger.
So our instinct is often to stand up for ourselves and to push back on an insult. People shouldn't treat us that way, we think—and in most cases they probably shouldn't.
But this Proverb points us in the opposite direction. Why? Why would it be foolish to react with annoyance right away, and prudent to overlook an insult? Wouldn't that just enable people to keep hurting us and others?
Let's be clear: It is important that inappropriate and hurtful behavior is properly addressed. But this does not mean that the way to react is to fire back with the same kind of behavior.
Remember Jesus, whom the prophets foretold would be "despised and rejected. . . . Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem" (Isaiah 53:3).
Jesus was able to overlook hundreds—maybe even thousands—of insults, jeers, and rejections because he knew who he was, what he was called to do, and how much the Father loved him.
Can we do the same?
Father, help me to live in your love and to remember who I am in you, no matter what people say. Help me to find strength in you. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
