Anyone Listening

           I was thinking about this blog today and remembered a piece I had written along time ago. It seemed worthy of repeating so I am sharing it with you in this blog.  I hope it is edifying and helpful to anyone who is reading this.                                

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you have been sealed for the day of redemption.  Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.  Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave us.  

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”  Ephesians 4:29 - 5:2

My friend Joy Casey challenged me to memorize scripture along with her that we may hold each other accountable.  It worked great as I have only memorized one other line of scripture in the 6 months since then.  God’s word comes alive as you memorize it and study a few lines at a time.  Both the do’s and do not’s have very practical application .  We do not learn scripture to just spout it off when we feel a need to “show off” for someone.  It is to be quickly brought up and applied in our daily lives.  

How many times a day do you talk to someone or in the presence of someone?  You probably can’t even count the occasions.  We talk in our homes.  We talk at work.  We talk at play.  If you are around other people you are probably talking.  Do you know who is listening?

Shortly after committing these to memory I had coffee with my dear friend, Christie Roberts.  We discussed women’s ministry things as well as personal and goofy friend stuff.  We had been in a local coffee shop for an hour and a half talking and laughing when a gentleman in the shop came up to us.  He introduced himself and said politely, “I couldn’t help but overhear.  Are you members of a church around here?”  

Quickly my mind began to race.  I should be friendly.  We should invite him to our church.  What in the world have I said in the last hour and a half?

We did introduce ourselves and invite him to attend.  He was from out of town but thanked us for the information and went on his way.  Oh how we hoped we did not shed bad light on Bethel, on the name of God, or even on ourselves.  I don’t think we did but we were not purposeful in thinking of that ahead of time.  When you are in a public place like that, do you even consider that others are listening?  You probably want to shift blame by accusing them of eavesdropping but what does God say? “ Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths...”  If no unwholesome talk comes out of your mouth do you have a problem when someone hears?  Obviously, there are occasions when the subject is private so you had better meet in private.  At all other times you cannot know who is listening.  Oh, and guess what?  God is always listening!

We can grieve the Holy Spirit by the way we live, which includes our talk.  Do we have bad attitudes toward others that comes out in our talk?  Do we complain and ignore the many blessings God has given us? Or do we build others up with our words and benefit those who listen?

This is challenging stuff.  I cannot live up to this and neither can you without the help of that same Holy Spirit.  Maybe we should start our day with prayer for a guard on our tongue before we even speak because out of our mouths come the words that reveal our hearts and our hearts are deceitful above all things.  “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good?  For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.”  Matthew 12: 34

     May the overflow of our hearts be out of our gratefulness to God for all He is and has done for our salvation and the salvation of others.