Keeping the Mouth Shut (and the Typing Fingers Still)

I saw a friend's status update last week on one of the social media sites I frequent that really bothered me... At first it was because I took what could have been a coincidental, off the cuff status as a personal comment...  Now, although I admit to getting my knickers in a knot when I think someone has an issue with me but feel they can't speak to me about it directly I can talk myself down from the initial frustration, I just can't let go of what I read... No longer because I felt it was directed at me in an indirect manner but because I can't imagine what other people would have thought knowing that person is a Christian... I was actually embarrassed and worried a comment like that would have an effect on the way people, lacking their own relationship with God, would view Him. because we follow Christ, we are the only example of Him some people will ever see... We can't distort the image.  That's a thought that weighs heavily on my mind, sometimes it's scary to think I represet Jesus to the world around me, both in action and word, to the people around me.

I'm not going to tell you what the comment was or who it was that wrote it... Suffice to say, if there is anything on your own status (or my own) that makes you wonder, that's a pretty clear indication it should be deleted, even if it's the status I viewed. I know you may think this is a little "soap box" again and yes, I've even debated not posting this blog... But when it comes to shaking us into realization that being a Christian means being conscious of even our social media updates and notes and even if we are directing comments to another "Christian" it can have an effect on anyone in the viewing or listening audience, we need to do what we can... Thus, here is my little blog:

I work in a law office and even when I am not "at work" I am under certain restrictions of action and spoken word because I represent the office. "Lord, help me to be reminded that if I am willing to be under restrictions of a law office representative, even more so should I be willing to be under restriction of word and deed for your representation! Help me Lord to be aware of my motives and to discern how others will hear or view what I am saying and help me to convey the intent of love, help and compassion in all of my words and actions! 1 Peter 3:10-12 "Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here's what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you're worth.  God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he's asked..."

Listen, we've all had moments we aren't proud of with regards to our mouth getting us into a jam, myself included... A good many times!  Unfortunately, those comments we make out of anything less than compassion and love can (and usually do) have a negative impact on people the comment wasn't even intend for... And if the things we say or do give even one person a bad taste in their mouth for Christianity it will most likely transfer to their opinion of God, which I'm sure I don't need to tell you is not alright with Him...  I don't want to have try to give an answer to Jesus on why I turned someone away from Him through a holier-than-thou attitude, Facebook Note or Status or Tweet.  We are not licenced to continue spouting off about whatever enters our realm of frustration.

There is a T.D. Jakes quote "Don't talk to your neighbor about the mess in their back yard until you've cleaned the mess out of your own" in other words, none of us are perfect so we need to keep our mouth shut about someone else's problems or short falls unless they asked for help... And help is meant to be just that, helpful: done out of a heart of compassion not self-righteousness whether in person or in social media arena....  That T.D. Jakes quote is very close to another I've read... Matthew 7:1-5 "Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment... It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt?... playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor." and again in Luke 6:41 "It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor." Help is given with a smile (like McDonald's... Comic relief) not a sneer.

I know this blog has been kind of harsh comparatively, but if we're being harsh with people around us, whether directly or indirectly, through spoken word, social media updates/notes or just a seed of thought in our own mind, we (as did I when I first learned this lesson.. that I am still...) need a harsh word to realize we MUST IMMEDIATELY repent and change!  We can only help people we do not judge... Help is given with a smile not a sneer.  If Jesus "didn't come to condem the world" (see John 3:17) but to "seek and to save" (see Luke 19:10) what makes us think He sent us to condem with our selfrighteous thoughts and actions? Let's take this correction as a reminder from God we are sent to love as He loved us and follow in His footsteps of seeking and saving!

Proverbs 3:12 "But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline; don't sulk under his loving correction. It's the child he loves that God corrects; a father's delight is behind all this."