I have many friends who have not made a decision to follow Christ, and I don't mean for this post to be directed at you if you're in that category - one who is not yet in the family of God. There are a bunch of verses herein, but they apply to Christians, so if you are not yet one of those, there is only one verse you need to meditate on, and it's no doubt familiar to you - John 3:16 - For God so loved the world (you) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life - I encourage you to stop reading now, and go meditate on that instead. It will help you.
But if you are one my Christian friends, I hope you'll read on and let me unburden myself about something. You see - I spend more time on Facebook than I should. And I also spend too much time reading news stories online. Of course these things can provide a lot of useful information. But they can also be (and usually are) tremendous time wasters.
Nonetheless, in my time pursuing Facebook and Twitter and various news feeds, I have noticed something that is of concern - words.
Some words just simply need to be retired from use, for they are so overused, and used so often when they don't apply, that they have become meaningless. If I read another article that contains the words "speechless" or "awesome" or "jaw-dropping" or "shocking" or the grand daddy of all the overused words - "EPIC", I'm going to scream.
I have never read an article online that contained the word "speechless" where I was left with no words. Usually just the opposite.
And nothing shocks anybody anymore so why is the word "shocking" found in nearly every headline these days?
And "EPIC"?
The Grand Canyon is epic. Thermopylae was epic. The 1980 Olympic Hockey Team was epic. Secretariat was epic. But that's not the kind of stories that I see constantly headlined as "EPIC!"
Let's please retire these words from Facebook and Twitter and the online-verse. At least until something truly deserving of their meaning surfaces.
Yes. I'm concerned about words. And my distress reaches to another aspect of words seen constantly on Facebook and Twitter et al.
I'm thinking of course of the coarse language and crude speech employed AND SHARED by those who name the name of Christ and call themselves His. I just spent about 2 minutes on Facebook and came across several posts that had been shared by some of my Christian friends. They contained things like "F***" "B***" and the granddaddy of them all - "OMG".
Brothers and Sisters, how have we forgotten the clear teachings of the Bible concerning our speech patterns? Perhaps we need a refresher:
Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. (Ephesians 4:29–31)
But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. (Ephesians 5:3–4)
"Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. "But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. "For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." (Matthew 12:34–37)
But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, (Colossians 3:8–9)
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. (Colossians 4:6)
For we all stumble in many things. If anyone does not stumble in word, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. Indeed, we put bits in horses' mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell. For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. (James 3:2–8)
The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, And his tongue talks of justice. (Psalm 37:30)
The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, But the perverse tongue will be cut out. The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, But the mouth of the wicked what is perverse. (Proverbs 10:31–32)
The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly, But the mouth of fools pours forth foolishness. The eyes of the LORD are in every place, Keeping watch on the evil and the good. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, But perverseness in it breaks the spirit. (Proverbs 15:2–4)
The lips of the wise disperse knowledge, But the heart of the fool does not do so. (Proverbs 15:7)
The wise in heart will be called prudent, And sweetness of the lips increases learning. (Proverbs 16:21)
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:16–17)
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
Yes, I'm concerned about words.
I'm concerned that Christians have forgotten the need to use words to draw people to the Savior. I'm concerned that the words of Christians are no kinder or sweeter or more wholesome than those of the rankest heathens in the blogosphere today. I'm concerned that Christians make a distinction between applying the verses above to words that come out of their mouth and words that come out of their keyboards. I'm concerned that Christians seem to think that sharing somebody else's corrupt language is somehow more acceptable than typing it out themselves.
I'm concerned about words. And I pray God helps me, and any of my friends who haven't yet unfriended me because of this post, to do better as believers in the Savior.
No comments:
Post a Comment