“Live the Right Message”

Tuesday, September 24, 2019

Last week, I was sitting in a hospital waiting room and noticed a lady coming toward me wearing a shirt with beautifully scrolled letters that said, "It Is Well With My Soul." She was heading for the empty seat next to me. As she sat down, she dropped her phone and also dropped nasty swear word as she did. And you know... regardless of her reasons for that, the inconsistency of it all just didn't sit well with me.

As a believer, it should never sit well with us when we observe blessing and cursing coming from the same life (Jas. 3:7-12). It doesn't make sense for someone who claims to be living a Christian life to swear and curse others and tell crude jokes, even if those things are supposedly done in secret. We ought not make excuses for the language we use—we ought to make changes to the language we use.

While not every sin of your tongue will be heard by someone else, every sin of the tongue is heard by God. And that ought to motivate us to make sure that our speech is "always gracious, seasoned with salt" (Col. 4:6) and that we "speak and act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty." (Jas. 2:12) The gospel that we claim to live ought to be the same gospel that is communicated by our words—that Jesus is the king of our lives and rules over us in every way.

- Dan Lankford, minister

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