But instead of doing what I once would have done, I did what
I have done for a while now. When I noticed that a mistake had been made I told
the cashier because I didn’t want him to be short in his till. He had already
closed out the transaction and so he told me I’d have to go to Customer Service
which I did, after making sure that wouldn’t be causing him a problem either.
When I got to Customer Service, I think they thought I was from another planet.
Who in their right mind tells the store when they’ve made a mistake like that? The woman
who helped me kept saying thank you and I just kept saying that I would have
been there if they owed me money, so why should it be any different the other
way around?
But it is different somehow, at least in the mind of
someone like me once upon a time when I didn’t have the mind of Christ. I still
slip up sometimes when I’m not paying attention, but these days I have to do
the right thing the minute I realize what that right thing is. I know I’ll just
feel bad if I don’t fix what’s wrong, and who needs to feel bad over something
you have the power to change? But people do every day, even people who say they
know the Lord. Something happens, a mistake is made, they cover for it and then
they find themselves needing to cover somewhere else and the next thing you
know they’re just making things up as they go along.
There was a movie that I don’t remember the name of where
the lead character, a man who was played by a comedian I think, couldn’t tell a
lie. Even if what he said was going to insult someone, he had to say it. But
that’s not the kind of truth I’m talking about. The truth can be said in a way
that is hurtful or it can be said with love. It may still not be what the person who
hears it wants to hear because we’re saying something that they – and we – wish didn’t need
to be said, but it doesn’t need to be said in a way that is meant to hurt. The
example I remember from the ads for the movie – I didn’t see it, but the ads
were out all over the place – was that a woman he was in a relationship with – maybe
a wife or a girlfriend, I really don’t know – asked him if something she was wearing
made her look fat and he said yes. That’s an awkward question to answer at
best, but even that question can be answered with love. If it doesn’t look good
we can say, “It’s not the best style for you,” or if it does look good and they
look good we can say so and add that they don’t need to worry about their weight
because they’re beautiful the way they are. People’s body images are all messed
up because of the media, but that really is another story, one that I could go on
for days about, so I’m not going to get started. My point is that most of the
time people just need reassurance that they’re loved, and saying something kind
and supportive is always a good plan.
There’s someone who I know who has forgotten the importance
of not judging others, and it shows up in every place imaginable. I’ve started
to wonder if that lesson was ever learned because of some of the things that
are being said and done while all the while this person listens to sermons and
reads Christian books all day long. The strangest thing to me is that they don’t
see anything wrong with what they’re doing. They think they’re just being “honest
and truthful and bringing correction where it’s needed.” The very way they talk
to people is condescending and judgmental, and there’s a batting of the eyes
that goes on that is an extraordinary display of sarcasm. How can a person who
claims to know Christ talk to anyone with sarcasm and criticize them to the
point of tearing them down to tears and think that’s all right? But when their
attention is brought to the fact that yes, indeed, people are being made
miserable, they bat they’re eyes again and say they just don’t know how that
could be.
James 3:8-11 puts it this way, “But no one can tame the
tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless our
Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who have been made in the likeness of
God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these
things ought not to be this way. Does a fountain send out from its opening both
fresh and bitter water?”
Matthew 12:34 tells us, “Out of the fullness of the heart
the mouth speaks.” When I just looked that up, I found this delightful website,
Deep Truths, http://deeptruths.com/random-dm/304.html.
Under that passage I read these words, “We’re the vessels of His Love to pour
out His Love to others. It’s all the Lord, it’s all His Love, but He needs
someone to work through.” It continues in the next paragraph, “’Open your
mouth,’ the Bible says, ‘and He will fill it.’ (Psalm 81:10) But where does He
fill it from? He fills it from your heart. If you have filled your heart
beforehand, if you’re full of the Spirit, if you’re full of His Love, His
Spirit and knowledge of His Word, the message you want to get across to others,
when you open your mouth He’ll fill it, right out of your heart!” The writer
makes the comparison of a water faucet, writing, “When you turn on a faucet,
the faucet is not doing the work! It’s the power from outside that causes the
water to flow effortlessly through the faucet!” And it ends with these
wonderful words, “If you’re full of the Spirit, full of prayer, full of the
Lord, full of the Word, then you can just let it roll! Ask God to turn you on
and it will flow! You’ll be amazed, it will be beautiful!”
I love all the exclamation points the writer uses. You can
tell how much joy and energy and life force are present in that heart. And like
that faucet it just flows effortlessly, creating its own force and power in the
heart of the reader. We all have that power with our words – we can give others
an infilling of life and love, of joy and peace, we can strengthen people and
help encourage and lift them up. Or we can do the opposite, and tear them down
and condescend and bring them down beneath us. But be careful if you choose
that unsupportive road, because those very people have been made in the image of God, and their
Lord and Father will make sure to let you know just whose child you’re talking
to.
Blessings,
Jannie Susan
No comments:
Post a Comment