8-20-2006

Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God. So your experience of God may become your experience of life. It is wonderful what God can do!

“Called to be in the Image of God”

August 20, 2006

There are many of us that enjoy a good joke. Others of us enjoy kidding with one another. Still others enjoy the use of sarcasm in jest. And still others enjoy using exaggeration in daily and fun conversations.

     Even Jesus and many of the biblical writers used exaggeration in their writing for the sake of emphasis and quite possibly for humor. Many times you will read, “and the whole town was in an uproar over this,” and yet there is no historical evidence that it was even a blip in their collective memories.

     In these current days, one might say that the whole town of Perry is in an uproar over the issue of the electric generating wind mills being debated. This is an example of exaggeration in prose. Not even the election of a town supervisor or the president of the United States generates a “whole town’s” involvement.

     God has made us in God’s own image. This does not mean that what God expects from us is going to be a push-over. It means that it will not be impossible for us because we will have a natural leaning toward it. Some persons will pay attention to this leaning while others will seem to ignore it.

     God has placed us on this earth for two basic reasons. The first is to experience physical life as a preparation for eternal spiritual life. The second reason is that we are to practice the principles of his kingdom here on earth so that his will may be on earth as it is in heaven.

     Jesus refers to this practicing of the principles of God’s kingdom as “we are the light of the world,” or “we are the salt of the earth.” In other words, anyone who is practicing the kingdom is a beacon to others, as is light. Anyone who is practicing the kingdom is a seasoning or a spice to others, as in salt.

     God’s kingdom principles are designed to create lives within which we can enjoy abundance, kindness, mercy, fairness, and justice. Even Jesus said that he had come to earth so that we might have life more abundantly here on earth in addition to eternal life.

     Anything that runs contrary to abundant, kind, fair and just living, runs contrary to the kingdom of God and God’s purposes for us here on earth. That’s why, when our Scripture of the morning refers to drunkenness as being debauchery, it is not because drunkenness is inherently evil. Drunkenness is debauchery because it leads to broken homes, broken spirits, and broken lives—all of which runs contrary to God’s purposes for us. If the state of drunkenness never led to anything, it would not be evil in and of itself—so says St. Paul in his writings. It is that to which this behavior leads that brings on the state of debauchery.

     Did you know that the evil done by our tongues is far more extensive than the evil accomplished by those who drink beverages containing alcohol? Both Jesus and the Bible have much to say about the evil of the human tongue.

     With the tongue, we are able to ruin people’s reputations, destroy people’s lives, and provide for much unhappiness. With the tongue, we can inflict pain as great as any physical pain. The tongue is truly “sharper than any two-edged sword,” to use the words of the Scripture.

     We must start telling our children the truth and stop perpetuating the lie that “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” This is one of the world’s greatest lies and we, as the lights in the world, must be at the forefront of eliminating such falsehoods.

     Our Scripture is emphatic that gossip is evil. Therefore, by definition, gossip must be when we repeat anything negative or demeaning about another person whether it is true or not.

     Talking about other people holds the potential for both good and evil. Why do people choose to use it for evil? It is because we fail to resist the temptation—and it is a strong temptation to want to hear something juicy or slimy about another person. But our Lord does not mince words on this subject … we become the evil doers of this world when we perpetuate negative stories—true or untrue—about others.

     One might argue that if the story is true than it is not evil. Not so according to the teachings of Scripture. To keep promoting and repeating a negative truth is an affront to God who is able to forgive and forget. If we who claim to be God’s light in the world are unable to forgive an individual of anything bad, especially in the past, then our words are actually proclaiming that no one—not even God—is able to forgive—and that is blasphemy! If we do not practice forgiveness in our talk, we will most likely be seen as hypocritical in our faith.

     Our Scripture tells us to praise God continually in each and all our days. If we are about the business of praising God daily, then we should be reflecting all that is good and positive about God in our lives. There should be no time and no place for speaking evil of anyone. Let the evil ones speak evil of others. Let the children of God speak well of others and give witness to God and the goodness which is given to us.

     My grandmother always used to say, “If you can’t say something good about someone, don’t say anything at all.” At the time, I didn’t realize she was giving me a kingdom principle — a teaching from Jesus.

     Since so many of us do enjoy kidding, jokes, sarcasm, and exaggeration, we as Christians must be all the more cautious not to take our fellow human beings out of context. Words of sarcasm and exaggeration are best not quoted to others who are not present to hear it in its original context.

     Let us resolve to be about the business of positive talk, praising God, lifting the good points of others and downplaying the bad points. Lifting up the forgiveness of God and downplaying where people stumble along the way. Let us thank and praise God in all things, especially if we have nothing else good to say! Amen.