THINK & Noah

Today during the church service, Pastor Bill pulled out the cow tongue again to make his point about how the Bible warns about the power of a tongue to either build up or tear down. Over the past few days I've been on the receiving end of some significant tearing down by the use of the tongue - I call this "sniper fire" because it feels like someone is up in the tree taking shots. But, unfortunately, the story doesn't stop there. I, like most of us, am also susceptable to giving into the temptation to tear down with the use of my tongue. Bill used Psalm 141:3, "Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips." He also used T.H.I.N.K. as an acrostic as we consider what we say... it needs to be Truthful, Helpful, Inspiring, Necessary, and Kind. This does not mean we don't speak the truth in love, but we make sure it is in love!

I also taught/facilitated the Biblical Growth Class during 2nd service and we talked about the fall of man, the expansion of the fall, God's intercession of the flood, and then our relapse into sin with the Tower of Babel. Interestingly, during the class I thought about our (humanity's) legacy of sin and how this relates to our temptation to gossip and use our tongue to tear others down. I would like to be like Noah in my faith - being righteous and doing what God has called me to do despite what the world might say. And I want to be righteous in my tongue - build others up (Ephesians 4:29) despite what the world is saying and despite what bullets I'm taking from snipers.

God, give us the courage to stand like Noah stood and to use our tongue for spurring each other on to love & good deeds! Amen.