2002-01-01
Good Morning Faithful Ones,
A few messages ago, I began to write about ways God gives us to avoid seduction from the truth by the devil. This is really a very important subject, which is why God seems to have so much to say about it. The methods Satan uses to attack the truth in this area are 1) through unqualified leadership; 2) the teaching and practice of apostate doctrine; 3) encouragement to gossip. Today, the Spirit leads me to look at the issue of 4) refusal to respect reasonable boundaries. A lot of people simply don’t understand what is meant by reasonable boundaries in the course of their interpersonal relations with each other and with God. This causes a lot of grief. The quintessential example of this is the person whose tongue is so out of control that he never considers the impact of his words on others before he says them. Our parent-apostle, James, has quite a lot to say about the tongue in JAS 3: 1-12, which I hope you will read. JAS 3: 8-12 particularly caught my attention. “But no one has ever been able to tame the tongue. It is evil and uncontrollable, full of deadly poison. We use it to give thanks to our Lord and Father and also to curse our fellow-man, who is created in the likeness of God. Words thanksgiving and cursing pour out from the same mouth. My brothers, this should not happen! No spring of water pours out sweet water and bitter water from the same opening. A fig tree, my brothers, cannot bear olives; a grapevine cannot figs, nor can a salty spring produce sweet water.”
I like to call James our parent-apostle, because he brings us right up to the place where we are sinning and calls a spade, a spade-just as a parent would. He forces us to face some of the hardest ingrained sins we carry with us. We can imagine a group of men getting together at a Saturday ballgame, hoisting beers and letting the curses roll off their tongues like cascading water from a high rock. Then, the very next day they can be found worshipping God with their families in church. That’s the obvious example, but it’s the more subtle ones that we miss. How about the teenaged girl who comes bounding into the room telling her parents she absolutely must buy that new style of pants that shows more skin. When her parents say, “no,” she curses them as if they were dirt under her feet. Another example might be the pastor who says and does all the right things in church and then goes home to emotionally abuse his family, because he is not handling the pressure of his job constructively. Then, there is the radio broadcaster who never has anything positive to say about others even on the air-often to garner ratings. Then, he goes to his place of worship and acts as if he were pious. I must include the wife at home who appears to be very devout in her faith and yet, when she drops a valued candy dish, she let out a very round four-letter word. We can all examine our own lives and look for places where we have either been or seen disrespect toward God and others, because we didn’t respect reasonable boundaries.
James also refers to this subject in JAS 1: 26 when he asks, “Does anyone think he is religious? If he does not control his tongue, his religion is worthless and he deceives himself.” God created us in His image [GN 1: 26-27]. He did not create us to have two personalities, one which is kind, faithful, and gentle and the other which is wicked, mean, and deceitful. So, the question arises: How did some humans get to be that way? The answer is right in front of us. What God created to be loving and pure gets defiled by Satan’s influence. The only remedy for that has been provided by our Lord God who loves us so much. It is His Son’s death on the cross and our ability to repent and believe in Him [JN 3: 16]. I must admit to not liking the word, “religious.” My reason is that it seems to denote something very much on the surface with no real depth of the life-changing kind. To my way of thinking, a person who really loves, trusts, and obeys God in his everyday life is a person who is spiritual, not religious. When we truly make Christ the Leader in our lives, I believe we are spiritual people. We are people who have closed the door on letting Satan in to defile our spirits and instead, have allowed the Holy Spirit to dwell within us, happily accepting this wonderful gift from God, and enabling Him to direct our thoughts and actions. And, yes, especially our tongues!
I would be remiss if I didn’t cite PR 28: 26 here. “You have to hate someone to want to hurt him with lies. Insincere talks brings nothing but ruin.” Jesus Christ was a model for us to help us understand how to love one another. God wanted us to see His loving, always-righteous thoughts and actions, so that we could understand how to put this kind of love into our own lives. MK 10: 13-16 comes to mind as a beautiful example of this. It is where some children are making noise in front of the synagogue and Christ’s disciples are admonishing them for this. Christ stops His disciples and instead, blesses these children saying, “Let the children come to Me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then, He took them up in His arms and blessed each one of them. Christ wants us to respect reasonable boundaries, watch what we say to keep it acceptable to God, and to bless each and every one of us. For, we are God’s very own children.
PRAYER: O Lord, there are many examples of stories You have given us in the Scriptures that indicate the power of the spoken word. You called Christ during His earthly ministry to heal people who couldn’t speak or hear, as He did the deaf-mute in MK 7: 31-35. Even a man as great as Moses was convinced by You to accept his calling to liberate the Jews from Egyptian slavery despite his own claims that he couldn’t speak well [EX 4: 10-11]. Repeatedly, You have demonstrated Your power to give even poor speakers the words to say that will accomplish Your will. Dearest Abba, we come before You today to ask for Your help in recognizing reasonable boundaries in our relationships with You and with other people. You are our supreme and sovereign Deity. We recite the words of PS 104: 1-2 to express our acknowledgement of that. “Praise to the Lord, my soul! O Lord, my God, how great You are! You are clothed with majesty and glory; You cover Yourself with light.” And from PS 96: 1-3, “Sing a new song to the Lord! Sing to the Lord, all the world! Sing to the Lord, and praise Him! proclaim every day the good news that He has saved us. Proclaim His glory to the nations, His mighty acts to all peoples.” We stand before You today to claim the blessing of wisdom which only You can give us, to acknowledge Your power imparted to us to help You defeat Satan’s evil, and to thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son on the cross. We know that when we empty our vessels of human agendas, refuse to keep sinning and confess it when we do, and ask You to fill us with the Holy Spirit, You will. We bask in the forgiveness that Christ’s Atonement provides and dedicate ourselves to learning to think and speak with the wisdom, love, and kindness that Christ modeled. It will be hard for us, for it doesn’t come naturally. However, we believe we can do it. To You belongs our adoration, worship, trust, obedience, loyalty, diligence, honor, glory, praise, and utmost thanksgiving. In Christ’s name, amen.
Tomorrow, we will look at what we can learn from the story of Ananias and Sappira from AC 4: 32-5:11 about the consequences of allowing Satan to gain a stronghold in one’s life. If we question internally if we have the power to learn to control our tongues, let us remember the extraordinary and holy encouragement we receive from PHIL 4: 13, “I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.” Our loving Abba wants us to allow “streams of life-giving water to pour out from our hearts.” That’s what happens when one believes in Him and obediently acts on that faith [JN 7: 37-38]. To my way of thinking that also means that faith-building and loving words stream from our mouths instead of curses and abuse. God loves each of us so much that He wants nothing more than for us to live with Him in joy and fellowship for eternity. That’s why He gives us these directions-even those hard to follow. Peter and I send you our love too.
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn