Monday Morning Scattershooting
Monday Morning Scattershooting while wondering why people
think I'm being condescending. It’s just that I'm too busy thinking about far
more important things they wouldn't understand.
I have to admit I am getting a little tired
of Facebook. To be honest I never much
cared for it.[1] Now however the noise is getting a little
overwhelming. Too many opinions, too
much information, too much bickering, too much meddling, too many
busybodies. For some reason, people can’t
handle making comments. I now avoid the
comment section on any website. Not that there are not good point in some
discussions, but to get to them you have to wade thru so much junk. I still can’t believe how people don’t think
about what they are saying in public forums. Maybe it is the false mask we think we have
online. We will say things to a screen
that we would never say to person. As Oscar
Wilde put it, “Man is least himself when
he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
The irony is that what we say online is
even more permanent. Our words will
drift until the sounds pass away but what we post is etched in stone. Yet we control no more. What did James tell us?
So also the tongue is a small
part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is
set aflame by such a small fire! And the
tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our
members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of
our life, and is set on fire by hell.
For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the
sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. But no one can tame the tongue; it is a
restless evil and full of deadly poison.” James 3:5-8
Next time we race to comment, don’t. Before we add our two cents, think. What you
say matters (Matthew 12:36). Don’t create ruin with your words.
I heard a preacher
say something this last weekend that made me think. As he was talking about the need for churches
to spread the Gospel he remarked how we all desire to be known as “friendly
congregation” but that friendliness may make us unwilling to tell people uncomfortable
truth. We won’t tell somebody they are
lost and won’t go to heaven because we might cause offense. It got me thinking about the pendulum of
politeness and directness. I've seen both
side of that swing. Some who will hide
the very nature of the church in order to “keep in good standing” and then those
that thru their brutish ways will never win a convert. I think the answer is in speaking the truth in
love (Ephesians 4:15). Peter tells us in
1 Peter 3:15, “but sanctify Christ as Lord in
your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to
give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;”.
We need to give the answers for our faith but in a respectful and courteous
manner. To hide truth is never the answer. To live up to a negative stereotype isn't the way either.
Finally, on a Monday
morning, a mother went in to wake up her son.
"Wake up son. It's time to go to school!" "But mom, I
don't want to go" he replied. "Give
me two reasons why" she told her son.
"Well, the kids hate me, and the teachers hate me too!" he
grumbled. "That's no reason, come
now get ready" she scoffed. In
desperation he quipped, "Give me two reasons why I should go?" She thought and responded, "Well for one
you are 52 years old. And for another, you're the principal!
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