Posted by: Anna All the sarcastic people in the room, raise your hands! Don't know about you, but I've got both hands in the air. In my family, sarcasm is pretty much as natural as breathing. We don't tell jokes so much, but you can bet we tease and make sarcastic remarks, many of which are also cynical or scornful. That's just a personality trait we all share. Now, I can imagine the sarcastics in the room eyeing what I just wrote and the title warily, with their mouse hovering over the red X in the corner. "Is she about to tell me sarcasm is bad and I shouldn't do it? Cause I'm outta here." No worries! I won't be telling you that. Please stay. :) Instead, I'd just like to look at how, maybe, sarcasm and other 'styles' of speech aren't reflecting us as Christians well when they're taken too far. Can you, at least some times, recognize a Christian from a non-Christian by their speech? In some cases, it's pretty obvious. My brother works with other older men, who aren't Christian, and do a lot of swearing and such. It's probably safe to assume that they've noticed that my brother doesn't swear. I know that if I hear someone cussing, the chances are quite slim I'll think they're a Christian. Are you with me? Alright, so swearing/cussing, or the lack thereof, sets Christians apart. What else? Let's say you could hear/see the conversation of a random American family at the dinner table, without any previous knowledge of what the family's like or how they act otherwise. Pretend they get into a discussion about some relatives or friends of theirs, and just about everything they have to say is harsh and sardonic. They're critiquing the relative or friend's beliefs, or maybe they're scoffing at their looks/personality, maybe they're pointing out their faults and mistakes. Now none of the family members are using any swear words. Their language is completely clean, they just have a sarcastic, degrading tone and what they're saying is quite demeaning. Would you go away thinking, "Man, they've got to be Christians! And some of the most inspirational and true Christians I've seen at that!" Didn't think so. (Unless you're a non-Christian who thinks Christians are hypocritical. Which is going to be my end point anyway. . . so forget I said that for now.) :) Let's have a less dramatic example. If you walk by a group of people who are picking on an individual, and the individual seems hurt by it and they won't stop, is your first thought "Christian"? If you see someone bragging about their skills, or mocking someone else's skills, then is your first thought "Christian"? Or what about a few teens who are whispering about how they don't like so-and-so for such-and-such reason? Maybe a group talking about some of their mutual acquaintances/friends, with lots of remarks about 'how annoying they are' thrown in? Can you honestly say you never do any of those things? I can't. I already admitted to say things that are sarcastic or cynical. So am I saying that sarcasm is bad? Or you're a terrible person if you occasionally tease your friend, or that you shouldn't ever have a single bad thing to say about anyone? No, not necessarily. But I do believe that both our actions and words should reflect Christ, and I think that most of the time, that's not what's happening. So where's the line? When is a little teasing okay? I don't think there's a rule-book. But, I think it should be easy enough for you to tell if you've crossed the invisible line, if you're honest with yourself. Is that teasing joke you're about to make nothing more than that, or are you actually annoyed with your friend and are saying so in such a way that they won't know? Is that sarcastic joke just some humor and personality on your part, or does it have the potential to be harsh or hurtful? When you're playfully calling your sibling names, is there a chance you're actually hurting his feelings? Are you complaining about so-and-so's flaws to someone because you're looking for wisdom and advice on how to gently tell so-and-so they need to change such-and-such, or because you're just bitter and want to whine about it? Do you have a reason to be talking about how good you are at such-and-such, or are you just bragging? Here's what I'm saying: Watch what you say. Because people do hear, and people do form opinions about you based off what you say. We can all think of a time where we were disappointed to hear our friend/etc. talking in such a way that made it impossible for us to respect them as much as we used to, or where something our friend said hurt our feelings. And the fact is, other people are watching us. When you swear, or say mean things, or gossip, you just prove to non-Christians that Christians are hypocritical. You prove it to Christians, too. I have a hard time not being upset by seeing how frequent it is for my fellow Christians not to shine Christ's light with their words. And just as often, I'm realizing that neither do I. I'm not saying I'm going to stop being sarcastic. I have a sarcastic humor, and that's just who I am. I am saying that, with God's help, I'm going to try and not let my sarcastic humor become sarcastic mockery or sarcastic malice. I'm going to try to not let teasing be a genuine but discreet stab at someone's annoying trait or weakness. I'm going to try to avoid downtalking others, when I know that I as a Christian am supposed to be known by my love, not my ability to analyze and condemn. I'm going to try to be known by just that--the love of God that is in me--instead of by my sarcastic remarks that make most people in the room laugh, but hurt one person. I'm going to do my best at talking the talk as well as walking the walk- to speak with love, patience, kindness, compassion, truth, and grace. I hope you'll join me. "Let your speech always be gracious," -Colossians 4:6
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Posted by: Anna “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.” We’ve all heard that verse from 1 Corinthians. And probably thought about it some too, maybe heard a speech on it or read an article about it. I know I have. It wasn’t until recently it took on a whole new meaning to me, however. I’m currently reading the book Start Here by Alex and Brett Harris. It’s certainly been a really good read. And the thing that, thus far, has stuck out the most to me from it goes along with that verse in Corinthians. Putting God at the center of our lives. It’s something we all talk about, and maybe even strive for. . . but that’s just it. How do you strive for it? Just like, how do you glorify God in your body? There’s the obvious stuff, like obeying the Ten Commandments. ‘Following the rule book,’ you could even say. And I think that all too often, we leave it at that. Follow the rules (at least follow them according to human standards) and you’ll be doing a fine job of glorifying God in your body and putting Him at the center of your life. Yet I think it means more than that. In their book, Alex and Brent answer the how question like this. First, realize that God is a person. Not a concept or, as they put it, cosmic riddle, instead, a person. He’s definitely not like any person we know here on earth, but He’s a person all the same- a perfect person. Now think of a person you know, say your best friend. Imagine what it would be like if you made that friend the center of your life. What would you do? Well, you’d want to figure out their likes and dislikes, and what they like to do, what their life circumstances are. You’d get to know their family and friends, and familiarize yourself with their lifestyle. Then, you’d spend as much time as you could with them. You’d want to please them, and fit your schedule around them. And even when you weren’t with them, you’d be thinking about them. Get where I’m going? That’s what it means to put God at the center of everything we do. It’s really rather confusing. . . it’s such a simple concept, yet so seemingly impossible. To put God at the center of your life, is to include Him in everything you do, think, and say. It’s to spend as much time with Him as possible, getting to know Him. It’s striving to please Him in all you do, it’s always having Him on your mind and heart. So. . . how many of us can say we’ve got that one down? Let’s go back to that verse in 1 Corinthians. The Holy Spirit lives in us, therefore our bodies are the temple of God, right? We are not our own, but are to glorify God in our bodies. . . What does that mean? My pastor talked about this in his sermon last Sunday, and really put it in a way that hit me. Think of it like this. So Jesus is inside of you, right? And, because of that, you’re supposed to take the concept of Him working through you--through your body--very literally. In that case, we should go through the day with a mindset of: “Is this what Jesus would have my body be doing? Is this where He would have my body at? Is this what He’d have it looking at? Are these the people He’d have it spending time with?” Basically, put God at the steering wheel instead of you. Just imagine if we all really did that! Do you think we’d ever find ourselves wasting time, or skimping out on Bible study and prayer, or neglecting others, or in the middle of some sin, or giving in to temptation? Obviously, we all don’t do it, because we all find ourselves doing those things. All the same, I think that really puts it into perspective. I think it’s time ‘glorifying God in your body’ stops being a neat phrase or stereotype challenge at the end of a speech, but starts being a lifestyle. Put the two ideas together. “Doing all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31) is to put God at the center of our lives--spending time with Him, learning about Him, thinking about Him, striving to serve and please Him--and to truly let Christ work through our bodies- letting Him control both our physical activities and our spiritual and mental. That is what we are called to do, as the temple of God. And why is it so hard? Because we’re rebellious! Because we want to be able to do whatever we want, whenever we want. We don’t want God dictating our lives. And yet, He is our Savior, Creator, Protector, Provider, and King. Where would we be without Him? Exactly- we wouldn’t exist. Everything we have is from God, including our lives. Because of our sinfulness, we still are the rebellious, stiff-necked people that don’t want God ‘messing with’ our lives. But if we want to live for God, we’ve got to let Him mess with our lives! We’ve got to want Him to mess with it! We should want Him to saturate our lives with Him. Glorifying God with our bodies and putting Him first is so much more than fleeing sexual immorality and not worshipping idols and not committing murder. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: it’s a lifestyle. It’s a daily choice, an hourly choice, a choice we have to make every minute sometimes. It may be something we can never do perfectly as sinful humans, but it’s something we should never stop endeavoring for. Because the Maker of the Universe, the LORD God Almighty, our Redeemer, lives in us. "For it is God Who works in you, both to will and to work His good pleasure." -Philippians 2:13 |
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