War of Words

“When you talk, do not say harmful things, but say what people need — words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will do good to those who listen to you.”

– Ephesians 4:29

It’s been 40 long years since the creation of the internet. But according to an IBM Marketing Cloud study, 90% of the data you’ll find on it was created relatively recently: after 2016. Google, which is a major source of this information, processes over 40,000 search queries each second.

That’s over 3.5 billion searches per day or 1.2 trillion searches per year. And the Library of Congress, America’s storehouse of books, maps, photographs, films, audio and video recordings, has well over 15 terabytes of data. How is mankind making the most of this ever-growing mountain of knowledge? One comedian has quipped that we’re using it to trade cat videos and argue with strangers. 

That amusing observation is not far from the mark — especially the part about arguing. It’s yet another symptom of society’s growing lack of civility and not-so-common decency. One reason is that the anonymity of social media has made it easy for so-called keyboard commandos to defame or otherwise tear down others without the fear of repercussion. What's more, things that we wouldn’t dare say to someone’s face can be conveyed online. In person or in cyberspace, words matter … and they can hurt and cause immense damage.

In the New Testament book that bears his name, James, the half-brother of Jesus, taught much the same lesson about the incredible power of the human tongue. While only a small part of the body, our tongues have the ability to change lives: to uplift and destroy, and bless and curse.

We know this all too well through our life experiences. How many times have we uttered something inappropriate — or maybe downright mean-spirited — that seemed to come out of nowhere? Communicating the wrong thing at the wrong moment to the wrong person has cost people their careers, marriages and reputations. And the sad fact is that our words (written or uttered) reveal what we really think deep down inside. They’re a reflection of our heart.

Back in World War II, the U.S. Government printed posters with the headline, Loose Lips Sink Ships. The message was that spies can pick up careless — although seemingly innocent — gossip about Allied troop movements, ship launches and other secret information. And when such information reaches the enemy’s ears, the result is often carnage, death and destruction. Likewise, all Christ-followers must watch their tongues (and their keyboards) to avoid causing needless, irreparable damage to relationships and reputations. Let’s take the time to rediscover the lost art of civility. 

Keeping It Kosher

We should live like that while we wait for our great hope and the coming of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us so he might pay the price to free us from all evil and to make us pure people who belong only to him — people who are always wanting to do good deeds.

– Titus 2:13-14

If you shop for groceries or cook, chances are that you’ve seen them a thousand times. They’re those special symbols on food packaging that certify the contents as kosher (fit to eat).

Kosher food is prepared according to Jewish dietary laws, which are rules and regulations derived from Old Testament laws and rabbinical extensions to ensure quality, cleanliness and safety. Hebrew National — a well-known brand of hotdogs — has a famous slogan that sums up their call to be kosher: We Answer to a Higher Authority.

Christ-followers do, too. And although we aren’t bound by the Old Testament dietary laws observed by the Israelites, these statutes are still a valuable reminder that we worship

a God who knows us intimately, who cares for us deeply and who wants us to lead pure, Spirit-filled lives. What’s more, he wants his children to live by higher standards that distinguish them from the world. This profound, loving care and attention also covers much more than the necessities of food, clothing and shelter. Our Creator wants only the best for us when it comes to our personal relationships as well.

His instructions on this matter are both timeless and straightforward. When it comes to dating and choosing a mate, the Bible tells us to be picky and refuse compromise. Does your prospective spouse share your love for God and strive to grow in his or her spiritual walk? If not, beware! Our nation’s high divorce rate tells a sad story about choosing an incompatible mate. And what about his or her standards of personal behavior? Are they driven consistently by Christ-centered principles like patience and kindness? Likewise, we can’t ignore the uncomfortable topic of same-sex relationships. The world tells us that we’re bigoted, intolerant and old-fashioned if we don’t fall in line. But God’s opinion about this matter is unambiguous. And he calls Christ-followers to be Biblically correct, not politically correct.

“You surely know that your body is a temple where the Holy Spirit lives,” the Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians. “The Spirit is in you and is a gift from God. You are no longer your own.”

That’s a difficult admonition that clashes with today’s feel-good, live-for-the-moment perspective. And that’s just the point. As Christ-followers, we’re not to follow the crowd. Instead, we’re to follow God’s standards for purity and refuse anything less. Our very lives should be kosher. After all, we do answer to a Higher Authority.   

Doing the Right Thing

Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

-- Romans 12:19

Author C.S. Lewis defined integrity as doing what’s right when no one else is watching. But in our modern culture that teaches what’s right or wrong is no longer so black or white, it’s reassuring to know that our God is One who never changes. What's more, he’s also a God of justice, and he promises to right the wrongs done against us. But he also expects his followers to seek justice along the way. As we read in James 4:17, "So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

Doing the right thing often calls for bravery. And while we may never

need to use it against a powerful army on the battlefield, we might have to take on figurative opponents like injustice, crime or discrimination. We have no hope of defeating them on our own. But we should be encouraged that God specializes in empowering average Joes and Janes to do the extraordinary against overwhelming odds.

A case in point is that David — an obscure shepherd boy and musician — once protected his nation by killing the Philistine giant Goliath with a stone from his slingshot. It was this same David who eventually became the mighty King of Israel and the one God called "a man after My own heart." Likewise, a fisherman named Peter quite literally dove into the deep end when he accepted Jesus' call to walk on water. After he began to doubt his own abilities, Peter started to sink. But Christ saved him once he called out in faith. This same hesitant follower, who would eventually deny Jesus to others three times, ultimately became a bold preacher of what the Book of Acts calls The Way (the Good News about his Savior, Jesus Christ). Two books of the Bible also bear Peter's name.

As Christ-followers, these examples should help us take heart. We know that the world can be a scary place, but God doesn't expect us to solve all of its problems. Instead, it's by seeking and embracing his power in faith that we can make a world of difference. And it all starts when we seek and do the right thing.

The God of Second Chances

 Don’t toss me aside, banished forever from your presence. Don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.

– Psalm 51:11

Playwright Oscar Wilde was right on the money when he quipped that experience is simply the name we give to our mistakes. Whether it’s on the job (a missed deadline) or in the home (water left running in the tub), mistakes can be both costly and painful. 

If there was anyone who knew something about mistakes — and also rebounding from them — it was David, Israel's most famous king as well as an ancestor of Jesus. His mountaintop moments included killing the giant Philistine warrior Goliath and leading his army to decisive

victories. On the other hand, David was twice a fugitive: once while evading jealous King Saul, and then years later when his own son chased him from the throne. David also committed adultery with one of his officer’s wives, and then had the unsuspecting man killed to cover his own sin. Psalms, a collection of poems written and compiled by David, records his emotions as he encountered the epic peaks and bottomless valleys of life.   

Maybe your own slip-ups and blunders haven't been of such biblical proportions. But they might have felt like it. After all, how many times have we all made such huge mistakes that it seemed like the end of the world? We blew it. It’s over. And we’ll never get back. 

Life-changing errors can cover lots of territory. They might affect our relationships, careers or even spiritual lives — and maybe all of the above. But the good news for Christ-followers is that we worship a God who not only knows what we’re going through, he also cares. What's more, he’s also a God of second (and third, fourth, fifth, etc.) chances.  

Like King David, the apostle Peter had a world of experience with mistakes and comebacks. In fact, after Jesus was arrested and the other apostles had scattered in fear, Peter emphatically denied that he even knew Christ. And not just once, but three times!

We read in the Gospels that Jesus was tried and convicted on false charges. And then he suffered a horrific, painful death — in our place — through his crucifixion between two deserving criminals. Crushed by guilt, Peter believed that his own life was over. After all, if anyone had blown it, it was him. But Christ had other plans for this apostle of little faith. The New Testament's Book of Acts records that Peter — now filled with the Holy Spirit — boldly defied the same religious authorities who had earlier condemned Jesus.

Failure and defeat are realities of the human experience. But here’s the Good News: They don’t have to be permanent or define us. As we search for our own life-comebacks, let’s take Peter’s victorious testimony about his master (Jesus) to heart:

“In no one else can salvation be found,” he proclaimed. “For in all the world no other name has been given to men but this, and it is by this name that we must be saved!” 

Justice of the Peace

It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak.

– Luke 12:38

California might come to mind when we think of states where earthquakes are common. But did you know that Yellowstone National Park, which straddles Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, experiences hundreds of earthquakes each week? What’s more, the area sits atop a so-called supervolcano, and it’s been 70,000 years since it last erupted. Then there’s the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), which covers parts of seven states from Illinois to Mississippi. During the Winter of 1811–12, it experienced 15 tremors with estimated magnitudes of 6.5 to 8.0. That’s on par with the 1989 San Francisco, 1994 Los Angeles and 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquakes. Seismologists report that the NMSZ appears to be 30 years overdue for a magnitude 6.3 quake, which would likely cause billions of dollars of damage and perhaps thousands of injuries and deaths.

Disasters, whether natural or manmade, happen every day. They’re often unpredictable. And there’s no guarantee that we can actually save ourselves, our family or property from

the resulting destruction — even if we recognize their warning signs. But today, there are cautions of a much greater world-changing event that could strike in 100 years, 20 years, 2 weeks … or maybe even tonight.

God promises us through the Bible that one day, a Savior (Jesus) will return to right all the wrongs of this world, save and reward those who believe in him, and direct all others to an eternity of torment. No one knows the exact time or day of Christ’s return. But many of the Bible’s prophesies about the matter have already been fulfilled, such as the relatively recent prediction about the re-birth of the State of Israel. There’s nothing to stop his Second Coming in our lifetimes.

Yes, Jesus could return in five minutes or in 500 years. But either way, we still must be prepared. That’s because none of us knows when our own time on Earth will expire. Check the headlines, and you’re bound to read stories about people killed suddenly in accidents, during crimes or by illness (like a stroke or heart attack). Like the victims of a tsunami, they had no idea that the day would be their last.

This brings us to the obvious question: Are you prepared to meet your Maker? Your answer has eternal consequences. “So you also must be ready,” Jesus warns, “because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Our God is a God of justice. And since we’ve all failed to live up to his standards, we all deserve the penalty that Jesus endured on the cross — for our sakes — about 2,000 years ago. So whether we leave this life from a natural disaster or naturally through old age, the question remains: How can we be assured that we’ll spend eternity with God rather than forever without him? The answer is not a particular action we can take, but rather a certain Person we must trust:

“I am the way, the truth, and the life!” Jesus assures us through John 14:6. “Without me, no one can go to the Father.”

Turning Love Into Action

 Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

– 1 John 3:18

When asked by one of the Pharisees — a strict religious sect — to name the greatest of God’s laws, Jesus astounded his audience by the simplicity and clarity of his response:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment,” Jesus answered. “And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

So in just a few brief sentences, Jesus summarized the core message of the

entire Old Testament — that God’s love, translated into beneficial motivations and actions through our faith in Jesus Christ, is indeed an unstoppable, world-changing force.

Love is an action word. But that's a difficult concept for many because they equate it with that squishy word associated with weddings, chocolates and Valentine’s Day. But Jesus wasn’t talking about some fleeting, awkward emotion. Instead, he's calling his followers to walk in step with him by putting our love into sincere, tangible action. And this can come in a wide variety of forms — everything from helping an elderly neighbor with their groceries to revealing God’s light to total strangers through a prison ministry. It could also translate into changing a co-worker’s life by showing him or her how Jesus has changed your own. The possibilities and potential are endless. 

How does God demonstrate his love?

There’s the famous Bible story of the Prodigal Son, where the loving father welcomes back his wayward — and totally undeserving — child with open arms. Or what about Jesus’ parable of the shepherd, who searched tirelessly for a single missing sheep? When he finally found it, he returned it triumphantly to the rest of the flock. Christ also told his disciples about a man who sold all his possessions to buy a field. But it wasn’t just any plot of land. Instead, it was one that held buried treasure. The cost to buy the field was staggering, but the man did whatever it took to gain the precious prize.

Those are a few illustrations of how God loves you and me. In fact, he’ll go to any length to bring us into his family. John 3:16, which is perhaps the most famous passage in the New Testament, tells us that God loves the world so much that he gave his only Son (Jesus) so that those who believe in him will have eternal life. God willingly let Jesus suffer and die to pay for all our wrongdoings — past, present and future. We rightfully deserve death because of how we’ve lived our lives and broken our Creator's laws. But God’s love offers us joy and happiness if we’re only willing to accept it. By living on Earth among everyday people and then dying for our sins, Jesus, who was literally God-in-the-flesh, has already paid the price.

The limits of human vocabulary prevent us from fully describing the meaning and implications of how God loves and cherishes his children. We can only skim the surface of this vast and deep ocean. But maybe it’s really not that difficult. After all, it takes just three simple words from the book of 1 John to sum it up: God is Love. And it’s when we live out our faith by turning his love into action that we'll make all the difference.

To Protect and to Serve

What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?

– James 2:14

To Protect and to Serve is the familiar slogan that once appeared in one for or another on law enforcement vehicles across America. According to LAPD Online, the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a contest back in 1955 for the police academy’s motto. The rules stipulated that entries should “in a few words … express some or all the ideals to which the Los Angeles police service is dedicated. It is possible that the winning motto might someday be adopted as the official motto of the Department." Eight years later, the credo began appearing next to the city seal on the city's patrol cars.

Service is also an ideal for Christ-followers. Indeed, we’re called to serve as

Jesus’ hands and feet on earth while we wait for his return — or at least until that day when he calls us back home. Until then, God wants us to help prepare his kingdom by making the most of the gifts and talents he’s given us. What’s more, we’re to serve as a beacon amidst the darkness of today’s so-called progressive enlightened society.

“Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise you Father in heaven.”

That’s how Jesus puts it in Matthew’s gospel. But what sort of light is he talking about? It’s really that spark or inner power that God grants each Christ-follower for demonstrating his goodness through their words and deeds. For example, we can shine a light and serve by running a much-needed errand for an elderly neighbor. We can help clean up a neglected school or a community park — or even work in a food pantry or visit the residents of a local assisted living community. There’s no shortage of options.

Why is this principle of service so important for Christ-followers?

“In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served,” Jesus explains. “He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people.” Our Master — Jesus — embodied a service-focused life during his ministry. So as his modern-day disciples, we should turn our faith into actions of service by accepting his invitation to shine a light of hope and truth amidst the darkness of the world.