What We Ponder

November 21

At times we think God is totally opposed to anything we do that smacks even slightly of ‘fun.’ Some people are convinced He disdains dancing and others even believe He opposes music. He seems to have a very rigid standard to which He holds us if we profess to believe in Him.

He also has a rigid code of conduct regarding our comportment of our personal and business as well as our spiritual lives. From engaging in illicit romantic activity to cheating on taxes, He holds our feet to the fire. He applies stringent constraints even to our thought life (see Matthew 5:28),

Another area in which we are admonished to be mindful regards the words that we utter. We enjoy a good joke. Slightly off-color humor is part and parcel of our TV watching fare and we hear at least a nuance of suggestive humor from the masters-of-ceremony of gatherings of almost every sort.

It’s inoffensive humor to all but the most straight-laced among us, but it’s not inoffensive to God. Many of us can personally attest to lapses into questionable comments that we might make in order to prove ourselves to be witty or to be ‘one of the guys’. We don’t want to seem prudish so we allow small compromises, ‘inconsequential indiscretions’ to enter our speech.

In II Timothy 2:16, the Apostle Paul writes to his spiritual son, “Avoid irreverent, empty speech, for this will produce an even greater measure of godlessness.” What seems to be a harmless utterance, according to Paul, has the potential of opening the floodgate of questionable communication. In order to be in God’s will, we must refrain from all naughtiness of not only action but also speech.

In James 3:10, the Apostle said, “From the same mouth proceed blessings and cursings; these things ought not to be. Can the same stream send forth water both bitter and sweet?” It is very clearly conveyed to us that He who is holy expects only honorable communication from the mouths of those who profess faith in Him.

Proverbs 23:7 says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” What we ponder will become what we say and what we do. How, then can we assure that the entirety of our lives will be pleasing to the Christ we love? Perhaps David sums it up best in Psalm 19:14 where he says, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer.”