Last week we began a study of the valuable contribution that young people can and are making to the cause of New Testament Christianity and how we as adults should respond to their efforts. You can read that article here…”That Thy Profiting May Appear to All.” Today is post number two.
“Even so the tongue is a little member, and boasteth great things. Behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth” (James 3:5).
The spoken word is the single most powerful tool we have at hand. The spoken word has begun movements and foiled rebellions. It has built relationships and destroyed homes. It has won respect and resulted in disappointment. It can be a tool to build or a weapon to destroy. It all depends on how we use it.
It is no wonder then, as Paul talked with Timothy about how he could build respect as a younger Christian, that the first advice he gave him was to be an example of the believers in word. People know us by what we say. In that sense our words define us. But what do our words say?
The Bible identifies three essential things that should characterize what comes out of our mouths:
- Our words should reflect purity. The language of the world is laced with profane and perverse undertones. Folks openly curse, blaspheme the name of God, and use crude, tasteless humor with no concern for their own souls or the consciences of others. But Paul clearly wrote “let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29). Are our words those that are pure?
- Our words should reflect peace. Of all people in the world Christians should be concerned with promoting peace both in the world and among the people of God. After all, isn’t that what Jesus sought in His work as clearly indicated by His prayers to the Father (John 17:21ff)? Our actions should work toward peace, but our words are going to go even further in establishing that end. Romans 14:19 indicates that we should “follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.” Are our words those that are promoting peace?
- Our words should reflect our passion. We love our spouses, our children, our parents, our friends, etc. But at our core we love God. Was the first and great commandment not “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” (Matthew 22:37)? It is ultimately our love for God, which is motivated by His love for us (1 John 4:19), that drives everything we do and everything we say. Thus Paul appropriately wrote that “having the same spirit of faith, according to that which is written, I believed, and therefore did I speak; we also believe, and therefore also we speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13). Could it be truthfully be said of us as Christians that we simply speak that which we believe? Are our words those that reflect our passion?
I am thankful for Christians, young and old alike, who are deliberate in their words. Christians who are careful to not sound like the world because they are not of the world. People who only want to be examples of true believers. But more so than any other age group young people have an immense opportunity to impact their peers with their words.
Young people in every generation have been known for their rebellious attitudes toward conventional expectations. How eye opening must it be among those in that age group to have friends, peers who make a conscientious effort to talk differently than they do? Who just try to talk with righteous intentions in mind? When we develop that same attitude regarding what we say and work to be an example of the believers in word our profiting does indeed appear to all.
-Andy Brewer