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.
Today’s Reading: Isaiah 11-13; Ephesians 4:29
My buddies and I get into these extended gmail conversations. They tend to start out with an email that has a link to some entertaining topic; but they end up devolving into all kinds of silliness that helps us get through the day.
A couple of days ago we were about sixty or so emails into an email string and the homie sent this clip of a young woman falling on her face while competing in one of those “reality” dance shows.
My first thought was “hahahahhahahahahhhhaa” She fell right smack on her face. It’s rare that someone falls directly on their face. Usually there is an arm or hand involved. But nope, not in this case… her face met the ground in a hurry.
And then this huge bump on her head grew progressively larger in mere seconds! So much so that the producers of the show pulled her off to go see a medic.
Good gracious that was rough.
So, on the email string I started clowning the poor girl. A couple of my homies laughed but the homies Kieran and Dez chimed in with some real talk. Theye basically were like come on man… that ain’t nice. What if that was your daughter. You ain’t right.
Sigh… can’t I just joke around?
So I pushed back like seriously man, it ain’t no big deal. And that was that.
But it stuck with me for the rest of the day. I was annoyed by him calling me out on something that didn’t really seem to matter. I thought more and more about it on the train ride home but finally I pushed it out of my mind.
That is, until I did my Bible reading for the day and came across the scripture above.
First of all… God… you ain’t right! Why you gotta always come so swift with the humbling correction? Before you know it the readers of this blog will start to think that I’m some evil jerk who has not one ounce of home training or decency!
(We’re all friends here right? Eh… whatever. Y’all can judge me if you like. I’m doing my best here.)
Secondly… clearly they were right. I crossed the line. And it took a swift confirmation from God to really make me see it.
We need to be careful about how we use our words. Words really do have power. Part of spreading love in the world is taking control over the words and ideas that we put out there. Just as God spoke the world into existence with His words, we create the world around us with our words.
If we sow love, we reap love. If we sow hate we reap hate. It’s a pretty simple equation.
So take a lesson from me, don’t try to act like something wrong that you did was right. Or if you’re hardheaded like me then at least listen when your friends and God tell you that you’re wrong.
What a crazy journey this is.
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