"Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be." James 3:10
My kids were recently fascinated by the amazing feat that was conquered by tightrope walker, Nick Wallenda. Having watched him complete the walk across Niagara Falls some time ago, they were thrilled to hear that he was going to attempt to cross a portion of the Grand Canyon that was 1500 feet from the rope to the bottom of the canyon.
We sat with sweaty palms and frequent gasps as we watched him battle the gusty winds and seemingly never ending rope that was in front of him. As he traversed his way over the canyon, his prayers spilled all over the tightrope. He praised God for His creation, he prayed for Him to calm the winds, and he called on Him to give him patience and peace.
The witness and testimony that he displayed before millions of people on live television that night was undoubtedly a breath of fresh air to cable TV. His unashamed use of the name of Jesus was something that you typically only see on Sunday mornings by a televangelist.
As inspiring and wonderful as his performance was on that Sunday night, my husband and I had the unavoidable task of explaining to our children why his speech was so different just twenty-four hours prior.
You see, we had no other choice but to change the channel as we sat together on the previous night and watched the television special that led up to his Grand Canyon walk. Let's just say that his witness on Saturday night was marred by all of the "bleeps" that had to be used to cover up the colorful language that was spoken by him and his team.
My children knew that he was a professing Christian. They remembered hearing his prayers during his Niagara Falls walk and remembered hearing him give credit to Christ as the source of his strength. So they naturally wondered why the language he used was so different whenever he wasn't on the top of a rope.
That evening, in the quietness of our living room, emerged a discipleship moment. We talked with our kids about how important their witness is. We talked about how we are called to reflect Christ in the good times, in the frustrating times, in the scary times, in the mountaintop times and in the times we're in the lowest of the valleys.
We spoke to them about how our speech is a testimony in and of itself. Quite simply, our speech either draws people to Christ or pushes them away from Him. People should be able to discern the sincerity of our walk with the Lord by the way our tongue reacts to adverse situations.
In the book of James, Jesus' half-brother spends a great deal of time talking about how important it is to tame our tongue. He speaks about how it is one of the smallest parts of the body, yet can do the most damage. He likens it to a fire that is started by merely a spark, yet can destroy a vast forest.
We really make it confusing for our non-Christian comrades and family members to discern whether or not all of our "Christian talk" is legitimate whenever our speech sounds like the world on Monday through Friday, yet they know we lift praises to God on the Lord's Day. I have a feeling that it's a little confusing for God as well.
If your speech is something that you haven't fully surrendered to God, you are essentially talking out of both sides of your mouth. You are doing exactly what James cautioned against, and that is, allowing your mouth to be a source of blessing and cursing.
For some of you, keeping a tight rein on your tongue is as difficult as walking a tightrope. If so, then it needs to be your daily prayer as you wake up each morning that your tongue will be used to speak words of hope and encouragement, rather than worldly words. Paul gave us wise counsel whenever he said:
The world needs to be able to see that Christians don't just praise God on Sunday, then speak like the rest of the world during the week. Our Christianity is watered down and less believable to the world if we do. We must choose to honor God with our speech.
Whenever someone has just used a bucketful of dirty language, there's a saying you might hear in the south that goes:
"Do you kiss your Mama with that dirty mouth?"
Perhaps Christians would do well to rephrase it to say something like this:
"Do you praise the Lord with that dirty mouth?"
If you are able to hear praising and cursing out of the same mouth, James would simply say:
My kids were recently fascinated by the amazing feat that was conquered by tightrope walker, Nick Wallenda. Having watched him complete the walk across Niagara Falls some time ago, they were thrilled to hear that he was going to attempt to cross a portion of the Grand Canyon that was 1500 feet from the rope to the bottom of the canyon.
We sat with sweaty palms and frequent gasps as we watched him battle the gusty winds and seemingly never ending rope that was in front of him. As he traversed his way over the canyon, his prayers spilled all over the tightrope. He praised God for His creation, he prayed for Him to calm the winds, and he called on Him to give him patience and peace.
The witness and testimony that he displayed before millions of people on live television that night was undoubtedly a breath of fresh air to cable TV. His unashamed use of the name of Jesus was something that you typically only see on Sunday mornings by a televangelist.
As inspiring and wonderful as his performance was on that Sunday night, my husband and I had the unavoidable task of explaining to our children why his speech was so different just twenty-four hours prior.
You see, we had no other choice but to change the channel as we sat together on the previous night and watched the television special that led up to his Grand Canyon walk. Let's just say that his witness on Saturday night was marred by all of the "bleeps" that had to be used to cover up the colorful language that was spoken by him and his team.
My children knew that he was a professing Christian. They remembered hearing his prayers during his Niagara Falls walk and remembered hearing him give credit to Christ as the source of his strength. So they naturally wondered why the language he used was so different whenever he wasn't on the top of a rope.
That evening, in the quietness of our living room, emerged a discipleship moment. We talked with our kids about how important their witness is. We talked about how we are called to reflect Christ in the good times, in the frustrating times, in the scary times, in the mountaintop times and in the times we're in the lowest of the valleys.
We spoke to them about how our speech is a testimony in and of itself. Quite simply, our speech either draws people to Christ or pushes them away from Him. People should be able to discern the sincerity of our walk with the Lord by the way our tongue reacts to adverse situations.
In the book of James, Jesus' half-brother spends a great deal of time talking about how important it is to tame our tongue. He speaks about how it is one of the smallest parts of the body, yet can do the most damage. He likens it to a fire that is started by merely a spark, yet can destroy a vast forest.
We really make it confusing for our non-Christian comrades and family members to discern whether or not all of our "Christian talk" is legitimate whenever our speech sounds like the world on Monday through Friday, yet they know we lift praises to God on the Lord's Day. I have a feeling that it's a little confusing for God as well.
If your speech is something that you haven't fully surrendered to God, you are essentially talking out of both sides of your mouth. You are doing exactly what James cautioned against, and that is, allowing your mouth to be a source of blessing and cursing.
For some of you, keeping a tight rein on your tongue is as difficult as walking a tightrope. If so, then it needs to be your daily prayer as you wake up each morning that your tongue will be used to speak words of hope and encouragement, rather than worldly words. Paul gave us wise counsel whenever he said:
"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."
Ephes. 4:29
The world needs to be able to see that Christians don't just praise God on Sunday, then speak like the rest of the world during the week. Our Christianity is watered down and less believable to the world if we do. We must choose to honor God with our speech.
Whenever someone has just used a bucketful of dirty language, there's a saying you might hear in the south that goes:
"Do you kiss your Mama with that dirty mouth?"
Perhaps Christians would do well to rephrase it to say something like this:
"Do you praise the Lord with that dirty mouth?"
If you are able to hear praising and cursing out of the same mouth, James would simply say:
"This should not be."
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