Watch your mouth

Photo by Dmitry Vechorko on Unsplash

“I don’t make a damn! I don’t make a damn!”

Is he singing what I think he’s singing? I thought to myself.

I strained to listen.

“I don’t make a damn! I don’t make a damn!”

Yep, I thought as I girded my loins for the “teachable moment” that was upon me.

My eight-year old, Daniel, and I were walking the dog. Daniel drifted into his own thoughts and fell a few paces behind me. I was lost in my own thoughts until I picked up on what he was singing to himself.

“I don’t make a damn! I don’t make a damn!”

Parents, you can guess what happened next.

Daniel knew he was caught. He tried the old “it’s about a beaver dam,” but he threw it at me like a hail mary pass when the game is already lost.

So, we had one of those talks. I told him (again) how Jesus taught that a person is what comes out of him (Gospel of Matthew 15:11).

“Damnation is nonstop death, it’s painful punishment,” I said. “Is that what you want for yourself? Jesus said that what we say is what we become.”

It’s another way of saying that “..the measure you give will be the measure you get” (Gospel of Matthew 7:2). The words we speak into the world will always come home to roost in our own souls.

My eight-year old son seems to be getting this.

I wish I could say the same for some grown men and women. I wish I could say the same thing for some Christians.

These days, I see Christians who will not say certain four-letter words, but they will gossip, lie, mock, and slander. Because they do it on social media or because they believe they are on the right side of an issue, they seem to believe they are all right.

But these Christians miss the heart and soul of Jesus.

The measure we give to others will be the measure we get. Jesus promised that. What we say about others and how we say it will come back around to us. It doesn’t matter if we are “right.” What we say and how we say it can turn the “right-ness” of our case or cause into something very wrong.

Jesus had a lot to say about how Christians use their mouths.

What did he say about what we say about our enemies? About those we believe are against us? About those we believe are in the wrong?

[Use your mouth] to “pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven” (Gospel of Matthew 5:44-45).

“And if you [use your mouth to] greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” (Gospel of Matthew 5:47).

The word “greet” here does not mean “hello.” In its context, it means wishing peace and prosperity and well-being on the recipient. So, to be Christian–i.e. to follow the teachings of Jesus–means to speak peace, prosperity, and well-being on those who may be trying to take those things from us! We are to wish good things on those we think of as “not deserving.”

Why? Because, Christians of all people ought to know that we are not deserving of any of the good things that God gives us!

Will we believe that grace is for us, but not for others?

Here is what I want to say to my fellow Christians: Your role models and teachers must not be politicians and pundits. Your role model and teacher must be Jesus Christ alone.

Watch your mouth. Online. At private parties. When among friends.

Watch your mouth especially when encountering those dislike or with whom you disagree.

What you speak out into the world is what will eventually become of you.

What you measure out even to your enemies is what God will measure out to you in the end.

Watch your mouth.

Grace and peace.