Two boxers are standing in the middle of the ring receiving final instructions from the referee.

After his speech, the referee tells the boxers to hit gloves then go to their respective corners.

The boxers hit gloves, as they were instructed, then take a step towards their corner.

Out of nowhere, one of the fighters throws a hard punch that lands squarely on his opponents jaw, and knocks him to the mat.

Pandemonium breaks out between the two sides.

The trainers and other team members are in the ring pushing, shoving, yelling, and cussing. Meanwhile the boxer who was hit is lying on the mat.

It's a boxing match so they're supposed to punch, right?

Punch? Yes. Sucker punch? No.

Last week I was on a call with a couple, and they were taking turns explaining their side of an issue that's been bothering them.

Things were going well until the husband slid in an unnecessary comment that undid the goodwill they'd been building.

She was caught off guard and got upset, as you'd expect.

I warned him against sucker punching his mate with his words, and want to offer the same warning to you.

A verbal sucker punch is when you throw in a sarcastic, demeaning, threatening, or crude comment at the end of your sentence.

You know, something like, "We need to leave if we're going to be on time. But, it wont be anything new since you're never ready on time."

Or, "I'm not really in the mood for sex tonight. Besides, you don't ever last long enough to satisfy me anyway."

Ouch! Those words hurt.

Just like a sucker punch in boxing creates pandemonium, a sucker punch in your conversation erodes trust and escalates tension in your marriage.

It's terribly tempting and all too easy to throw a verbal sucker punch when we're upset.

While it makes us feel good and strokes our ego, it also makes us look weak and pushes our mate away from us.

Ask the Lord to help you restrain your words so you'll avoid sucker punching your mate with your words.