as true today as 3000 years ago

Today in the One Year Bible, we read from 1 Peter 3:8-4:6. Peter tells us that being kind to someone who insults you is our command from God. But the Psalmist said the same thing hundreds of years earlier... that a gentle answer turns away wrath. You can imagine the kind of wrath that the gentle answers were turning away back when this was written.

But the wisdom holds true today, on the modern invention called the internet. So many times I'll be having discussions with people who are insulting me online, but I'll remain calm and respond to them with gentle, kind replies for two reasons: one, the person I'm talking to might be changed by the answers I give and God tells us to do it that way, but also two: other people are reading and are influenced by the tone we take when we reply to those who attack us.

I've been amazed how often the person I'm arguing with will start liking my replies... and then eventually send me a friend request.

Gentle answers turn away wrath... and sometimes make us friends.

God, thanks for teaching us things that are always true.