Revealing Words

From June 15, 2015

The rain was starting to pour.   We ran, all five of us,  and crammed into the doorway of the visitor center at Rocky Mountain National Park.   That’s when I thought I saw him…a famous Christian speaker and writer…coming OUT the door with two of his children.   I glanced back at my husband to see if he noticed him too, and it was clear he had!  Should we go up to him and say hello?

Just then, in the split second of indecision, I heard the man blurt something out.  Something that sounded like taking the Lord’s name in vain. I drew back.  No.  He couldn’t be the man we thought he was.  His words revealed he was someone else.  My husband caught up with me and asked if I thought we should go up to him.   I  told him what I had just heard.   Disappointed and still wondering if he was in fact the man we first thought,  we moved on.

Oh, how this little incident has played over in my mind dozens of times since that day last week!   And for several reasons,  I think,  I can’t let it go.   You see, there is the obvious disappointment of seeing someone you respect and admire act in an ungodly way.  That saddens me.  But then, it very well may not have been the right man.  OR maybe I misheard him.  Those are all possibilities.

Deeper down,  I see the lesson I must learn in my own soul.  My words matter. My words reveal who I am.  Yes, we stumble, yes, we fail and sinfully say (and do) things we should not.  And sometimes no one hears us.  But sometimes they do.  And I would say people hear and see us much more than we realize.   What message are we giving out?  What truth do we tell about the Christian life? If they know we are Christians, would they overhear something we say and think, “Yep.  That’s a Christian.” I know there can be two sides to that coin.  Sometimes we need to show the world that we DO fail and sin, but that there is GRACE when we do.  That’s really an opportunity we need to take.  But on the whole,  what is coming out of our mouths?

“Let no unwholesome talk come out of you, but only what is fitting” Paul writes.

Ouch.   Unwholesome talk.   Ungodly talk.  I want to be killing the remains of that, with Jesus’ power.