October 2018 Articles

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Spiritual Corner: Slow to Speak

Spiritual Corner: Slow to Speak Whenever I get on my Facebook, the one thing I seem to be seeing plastered all over it right now is arguing over the Kavanaugh/Ford issue. I don’t claim to know every detail about what is going on, but I know enough about what is going on. I know that Republicans are up in arms defending Kavanaugh. Democrats are boldly supporting Ford. The country is divided, once again, (surprise, surprise), and negative, ugly verbal exchanges are being made between both parties. I hate seeing my newsfeed like this. I like to get on my Facebook to see pictures of my friends’ babies or pets. I like to see funny videos or shared scripture. I don’t like to see posts on posts on posts of political ugliness. Sometimes, I will read through the comments on a political post and it honestly just makes me sad. How can grown, supposedly CIVILIZED, people speak to each other in such an ugly and atrocious way?! Just yesterday I was speaking to my 7th graders about how I do not like to hear them use the word “idiot” to describe themselves or others. Sadly, I think my 7th graders could teach the rest of the world a lot about how to speak kindly to one another. I mean, think about it for a second. How in the world do we expect the next generation to grow up to be kind, well-spoken citizens of society whenever all they see are people speaking to each other in the exact way they are being taught not to speak to one another?! It honestly makes me sick. Here’s the thing, and you can agree with me or disagree with me; either is perfectly fine and I will love you the same. If my daughter, mother, sister, or female best friend or student was sexually assaulted, regardless of whether or not her story seemed to make sense, I would want people to believe her and I would want her to be heard and helped. On the flip side, if my husband, brother, father, son, or male student was accused of sexual assault and he said he didn’t do it, I would want people to believe him and I would want him to be heard and helped. That’s the thing. If this political situation were reversed, I firmly believe both parties would be acting in the EXACT WAY that the other party is acting now. And that’s okay. It’s okay to have an opinion on something. It’s okay to believe in someone or something. However, it’s NOT okay to speak about other people like they are the scum of the earth. You see, it doesn’t matter if a person is a republican, democrat, conservative, liberal, Caucasian, African-American, Hispanic, or what. They should be spoken to or about in a kind and civil manner. In James 1:19-20, scripture reads, “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God”. Instead of using vulgar and insulting speech to talk about the other party, why can’t we just discuss issues in a civil way? Or better yet, why can’t we just keep our opinion (especially if it’s hateful) to ourselves? The Bible tells us to be QUICK to listen and SLOW to speak. If you ask me, our whole country does very little listening to each other, but spits out a lot of hateful speech towards others without thinking. Remember, “the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God”. What does us getting angry and becoming hateful accomplish? It causes nothing but hurt and makes us look bad, not to mention sets a terrible example for the younger generation. God has a righteous anger. God is the one who will judge the world. If someone deserves judgement (which, by the way, we ALL deserve it), don’t you think that God will serve it to them in His own way, in His own time? Whenever we act in this less than Godly way, we lose our ability to show God to others. We lose our credibility as a Christian. The world sees us and thinks, “They’re a Christian?! It doesn’t seem like it; they’re acting hateful and rude just like the rest of us”. And friends, just because the rest of the world is acting one way, does NOT mean that we should. In Romans 12:2 it says, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”. We are not to be conformed to this world if we are Christians, meaning we are not to be like this world. We are supposed to be DIFFERENT than the world. We want people to notice us for being DIFFERENT. If the rest of the world is being negative and hateful, we shouldn’t be joining in. People should see us as being different because of our kindness to others, even in a situation where the other person maybe didn’t deserve that kindness. Think about it. If someone were mean to you, you would probably either just not say anything and take the insult or you would say something insulting back. That is the normal reaction of a person in that situation. But what if someone was mean to you and you in turn were kind to them? What if no matter how mean this person was to you, you still spoke kindly to them? You didn’t let what they said affect you, but just spoke kindly to them and continued to help them if needed? Now, that would STAND OUT to others. That’s how we’re supposed to be to this world. We’re supposed to stand out, because whenever we stand out, people start to wonder what it is that makes us stand out. They wonder how we can continue to be so kind to someone who is so hateful to us. And whenever the opportunity comes up where we get to talk about WHY we’re able to show this kindness to others, then BAM! We get to talk about our incredible God. The one and only God who gets us through the struggles of this life. The holy God who is the only good part about us. The merciful God who loves us and sent His Son to die for us even though we’ve never deserved that kind of love. You see, whenever Jesus was getting ready to be crucified on the cross for us and He was continually spit on, beaten, and bombarded with insults and accusations, do you know what He did? If you look in Mark 15:3-5, it tells us, “The chief priests accused him of many things. So again, Pilate asked him, ‘Aren’t you going to answer? See how many tings they are accusing you of.’ But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed”. Jesus remained silent in the face of all this hateful speech and this caused him to stand out. He didn’t hurl insults back like we so often seem to do in this life. Jesus continues to model the way we should be in this life whenever we see Him being hung on the cross where He says to His Father, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”. (Luke 23:34). Jesus is our ultimate example. If being quick to listen, slow to speak, silent in the face of hateful speech, and forgiving of others in the most horrible of situations is good enough for Jesus, then my friends, it should be good enough for us. We should strive every day to stand out and to look like Jesus. None of us are perfect. This world is far from perfect. There are going to be awful situations and issues come up, just like this present political one. I don’t have all the answers, but Jesus does. If we are Christians, then we need to evaluate ourselves and do everything we can to make sure our lives look like the life of Jesus. We need to evaluate the way we speak to and about others. We need to meditate on the type of thoughts we have. We need to look at the way we act. We need to get in God’s word and on our knees in prayer and wake up every day determined to live like Jesus, for Jesus, and with the goal of bringing others to Jesus and my friends, just like I am striving to teach my 7th graders, we will not accomplish that if we are “ugly” to one another. Let’s put the ugly, hatefulness away and spend our days spreading kindness to others, even if we don’t think they deserve it. We didn’t deserve the ultimate kindness that Jesus bestowed upon us, either, and yet, because of Him, we have hope for a heavenly future with our God. --Dana Alexander