Have you ever been skinned alive? It is no fun, is it? We may not lose skin, but it hurts like we have.

To be skinned alive means to be severely scolded or punished.

Many of us think scolding hurts the most.

People of all ages receive threats to be skinned alive.

• Children who break their parents’ rules
• Employees who fail to do their work
• Friends or family who break promises

This phrase comes from the cruel “practice of flaying a live prisoner.”

The Free Dictionary dates it to the mid-1800s.

The threat to skin alive often comes with the strength and power to hurt others.

However, we never want to harm anyone.

Encouraging people to straighten up and fly right is okay. Blowing our top is not.

When people threaten to skin us alive, we want to make necessary changes.

However, if we have done nothing wrong, we may need to say so. Regardless of how they treat us, we want to treat them with respect. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (James 1:2 NIV).

Thanks to Kristy Robinson Horine for the suggestion. Image by Sammy-Sander from Pixabay.

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