Just a Thought

So, it's been over a month again since my last post, and I wanted to write something quick. I do intend to continue on with teaching on why Jesus came to die, but, as those tend to be rather lengthy posts, which I think many people may not even be reading, I will not post one tonight, as it is very late, I am going to go to bed, and I'm wanting to end this ginormous run-on sentence.

Pant, Pant, Pant...needed to pause for a breath of air.

So, I was thinking the other day, about the things we speak. I don't really know why, I was just kind of pondering. I have long tried to be careful about the words coming out of my mouth, especially in public. I know you would be hard pressed to find someone who could testify to having ever heard me utter a foul word, even after a smash-your-thumb-with-a-hammer style incident. I say this not to toot my own horn, but just as a matter of fact, and as background to what I say next. I have tried to live by what the Bible says in Ephesians 4, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." It is sage advice and from the Bible, and so I've never really understood people you cuss, especially Christians. Again, I say this not to cause shame, but just as a statement that I don't get it. What is the purpose of foul language anyway? I had someone tell me once that "Well, sometimes a situation just needs a cuss word." Maybe for him it does, but I still don't get it. My wife will also lovingly point out though that I am not ever out of control, and tend to be a very logical person, rather than an emotionally passionate one, perhaps that has something to do with it.

Anyway, what I was pondering about though is all the other things I do say. While I do not "cuss" I do say things like "Holy Crap", "What a Moron", (and my fav from Napoleon Dynamite) "Idiot". So, are these just as bad? "Let me 'splain...No, is too much. Let me sum up." See, in addition to the afore mentioned passage in Ephesians, the bible also has several other thing to say about our words. Some that came to mind as I was pondering this I will mention.

First, and this one is probably a very important one, since it is mentioned not once, but twice in the Gospels. First in Matt 12:34b, and then again in Luke 6:45b. "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. " that's the NIV the KJV actually says "the abundance of the heart". Same idea different words. The point is, do I really like the idea of the abundance and overflow of my heart to be "Holy Crap"? Or perhaps that is what is there...wow that could be a sermon in and of itself..."The Holy Crap of Our Hearts"...I'll have to think more on that one. But away from the irrelevant tangent...Am I speaking the abundance of my heart when I say things like that? Perhaps I am and if that is the case, then perhaps I need to reevaluate the contents therein of my heart. For you see the Bible also says this regarding our words in Matt 12:36-37, "But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned." Wow, do I really want to have to answer for EVERY careless word I've spoken, that sounds like a kickin' party, count me...as far from that as possible! But the Bible says that we will give an account for them, but it also says that by our words we will be acquitted and condemned. Now keep in mind this is at the final judgement, so, I do not fear this knowing that by my words, confessing Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the Saviour of my life, the sacrifice for my sins, raised from the dead, I do not fear condemnation, but it still I think will not be a pleasant experience. Do you recall ever having to answer for something you did that you knew was wrong, recall what it felt like inside? The hot flush, the fear of "what is my punishment?", or "I'm so busted.", the guilt, perhaps the shame. I'm thinking it will be something like that. Maybe I'm just an optimist though, it could be much worse.

The point to all this is, we speak so many things without even thinking about what we are saying. The Bible obviously says that our words will be called into account against us one day, and we will answer for them. So, that being the case, what am I speaking? I want to speak the love, the grace, the mercy of God. I want to speak of what He did for me, the things He sacrificed for me, ever thought about what it would mean to do as the song says "I could sing of you love forever?" I'm not saying go stand in the streets singing 24/7/365, but think about it. If we as Christians were actually authentic in our walk, and actually let this life God gives us permeate us, and overflow us, and we "sing of His Love, Forever," what would this world become? Jesus said that we would be persecuted, and that people would hate us because of Him. No problem, we are already seeing that come to pass, but the church was never meant to be a place we come to insulate ourselves from the world, and I fear that it is becoming more so everyday. The church was designed to be a place that the sick come, the broken, the hurting, the dregs and wash of society. Notice where Jesus spent most of his time? Not in the temple, but rather in the marketplace among the (O scandalous) sinners. The sick need a doctor, not the well. It grieves my heart to see people come out with the "God hates Gays" "Hookers go to Hell" etc. signs and then they say, "We are from First Holiness Tabernacle of the Grace of the Great God and Blessed Sacrament Church. And God hates these people" (One caveat here...if you really are a member of First Holiness Tabernacle of the Grace of the Great God and Blessed Sacrament Church, then please forgive me, it was a name pulled out of thin air) God doesn't hate those people, He loves them; He loves them so much the He died for them; so much that "He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER, believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life". Yes, God despises sin, and yes He says that homosexuality is a sin, and prostitution is a sin, but he also says lust is a sin, and greed, and lying. What about coveting? You see to God, sin is simply sin, it separates us from Him. He cannot have anything to do with it. Which is why Christ "became sin for us" so that the curse of it would be done away with, and we can have the relationship with God that He intended for us to have. Sin only has levels in our mind. "I'm not as bad as that "idiot" who thinks he was born gay." No, I only covet my neighbor's things. "I'm not as bad as that "moron" robbed that bank" No, I only spewed expletives at the waiter because he dropped a cup of water on the table and some got on me. See my point? It reminds me of a story I once read. Check it out in Luke 18: "To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.' "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." " See, so often we think we're good, when really it is the latter attitude we should take. John Bradford was a prebendary (administrator of a cathedral) of St. Paul's in the 1550's. He was an english reformer, and later became a martyr. He was burned at the stake in 1555. He summed all this up best with a statement he made as he watched a group of criminals being led away to execution. "There, but by the Grace of God, go I." Sin is sin, only people create degrees of sin, in God's eyes, I am as much a sinner as the prostitute, the homosexual, the thief, the rapist, this list could go on. So, I want to watch what I am speaking, and see that my words are speaking out the abundance of my heart. More correctly, I want to see that the abundance of my heart is in line with God's word and His desires and love, then if it is I don't have to worry about what I speak, for if I fill my heart up with God's Words, then that will come out of my mouth.

Let me know what you think, please feel free to comment of pass along to anyone you want. Peace to you, and God's favor too:

In Christ Alone,
th