LEARNING DAILY

 

James 1:26, If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are just fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. (New Living Translation)

 

When I read this verse, I could not help but think of some of the videos I have watch lately of former NBA stars Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. Both were great basketball players, fierce competitors, and great trash talkers. They were so good that they would tell those trying to defend them, what moves they were going to use against them and then do it. When someone tried to really guard them, they would just laugh at them, tell them how many points they were going to score against them that night, and then, do it.

 

“Trash talk has been accepted in sports culture as ‘part of the game’, but there’s no such thing as trash talk in God’s view. You are responsible for everything you say, and what you say goes a long way in defining who you are.” writes Tony Dungy. Some days I just shake my head at what comes out of my mouth or what I write in a text. You know what its like to say something while at the same time trying to take back everything being said. Some days I get criticized for not responding to something said or done right away because I am thinking, trying to measure the words I want to respond with. I have to be slow to respond, at times, because I know things I say cannot be taken back.

 

I want everyone to know I stand for Jesus Christ. But to do that, my talk and walk need to match. I want to model Christian love through the things I say; that can be a difficult task for me. There are plenty of times the things I say or write are perfectly clear to me but not so clear to others. They are even misconstrued or misunderstood. Sometimes I am trying to be funny; but my humor is not always understood. I remember being told if I didn’t have anything good to say at all, don’t say anything-. Sometimes, that is great advice. Sometimes, I need to think before I speak. At all times, it is important to speak truth in Christlike love.

 

Jesus is always to be the example for each person calling themselves an example. He always spoke truth. He was pretty straight forward in the things He said to the scribes and the Pharisees. Read Matthew 23 to see how He addressed them. You have to notice He focused on the hypocrisy and behavior of these people. He identified their root problem – they wanted their followers to be impressed with their knowledge about God’s Word in order to secure their power and elevate themselves. Jesus addressed the issues of their hearts. The heart needs to be cleansed through faith in Him; when people do, they bring joy to Him and blessings to other.

 

In Matthew 12:34b, Jesus states, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Whatever is in the heart eventually will come out of the mouth. That’s Jesus speaking, not me. Some of you might be old enough to remember this saying, “garbage in, garbage out”.

Apply that to what you put into your heart each day. Do you put God’s Word into your heart or things of the world? Do you glorify and honor God with the things you say or not? It is a daily desire. Jesus still has a lot of cleansing to do in my heart! I want Him to!