Faith in Practice

The first pastor who truly taught me verse-by-verse from the Bible was a man who had an endless arsenal of clever and wise sayings.

One of them was: "Fresh water and salt water don't flow in the same stream."

What he meant was that goodly and kind words don't routinely stream from the mouth of an evil person, and that evil and distasteful words don't routinely come from the mouth of a good person.

It comes to mind because lately, I hear more and more offensive and distasteful words from the mouths of people who claim to be Christians.

I'd never claim to know what's in a person's heart, but, according to Jesus, what comes out of their mouth is usually a good indicator.

"... for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Matt. 12:34)

The most blatant and obvious offenders are those who use four-letter curse words, but there are also those who gossip, murmur, tell Jesus jokes and even take the Lord's name in vain.

They're not the kind of things you'd expect to hear from anyone who fears Almighty God, yet they come from people who say they are Christians.

They might excuse their behavior by saying God is not uptight; he can take a joke. But if that's all the reverence Christians give our Lord and Savior, then why should we ever expect those who don't know him to respect him?

It's as if we are so worried about being labeled a Jesus freak that we'd rather be crass than Christ-like.

The danger with this attitude is that the things that come out of our mouths are being recorded in heaven, and they'll be played back when we each stand before God.

"But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." (Matt. 12:36)

"Every idle word" includes even the things we say in jest, the things we say we don't mean.

As a child, I remember watching the Schoolhouse Rock educational cartoon musicals on Saturday mornings, and one that encouraged brushing was called "Yuck Mouth."

A decaying animated tooth sang a catchy jingle that started this way:

They call me Yuck Mouth 'cause I don't brush. I like my teeth like this.

They call me Yuck Mouth 'cause I don't brush. How's about a little kiss.

The cartoon taught kids that if they didn't brush, the food they ate would soon rot their teeth and make them a "yuck mouth."

But, when the Pharisees challenged Jesus about his disciples not washing their hands before a meal, Jesus said it's not what goes into the mouth that defiles the man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. (Matt. 15:11)

As for being labeled a Jesus freak, there are worse things.

You could be a yuck mouth.