Shut your mouth!
So I’ve been convicted. Not in the “judicial, prison bars” type way, but in the “deep down inside my heart” type way.
Reading through 1 John 3:11-24, a thought came to my mind: Love spreads. I couldn’t get this thought out of my mind. Then it unfolded: Love spreads. Bitterness contracts. Love spreads. Maliciousness decays.
Just look at Jesus, Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King Jr. and the kid on “Pay it forward.”
Love spreads.
So in honor of that fact, I challenged my staff today to try cutting all negative communication out of their vocabulary (including innuendo).
Here are a few things I mean by negative communication
Sarcasm
Negativity (that is not needed to express a valid point)
Bitterness about another person or a negative circumstance (like someone who does something “stupid” or an electronic device that wont do what you want it to)
Joking around and busting
Talking to someone with malicious intent about someone else
rolling of the eyes when someone’s name is mentioned
I know that’s a pretty big list and a wide variety of things, but I believe that if we can change our culture, we can change our future. We’ll call it the “Shut your mouth” challenge. Of course, you don’t have to shut your mouth permanently, but it may be easier if you’ve developed a habit of negativity in your communication.
My prayer is that this would impact our community with love and that love would spread beyond the walls of our church, and make an impact that reaches into our community for Jesus Christ!
Would you consider taking up this challenge for the next month with us?
Related posts:
Great thoughts bro.
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart[a] brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” Matthew 12:35-37
Timely… I hadn’t read this until after work… but I had a similar day… And I don’t work at a church. I experienced some very negative attitudes today – not directed toward me – but shared with me (from a manager in fact) – and I believe I need to discourage this behavior and redirect positive attitude. Hard particularly in the secular world where cutting down and sarcasm and complaining is the culture. I recruited another woman with me to help me fight this battle in our department. I need support to do this – as I get sucked into it too… But it is something we all should strive for, not just in our churches but in every aspect of our daily lives. Thanks Marty – we were totally on the same page today!
Absolutely. I’m finding myself to be a little more on the negative side, since we’re struggling financially (who isn’t?). And I really need to get myself out of this negative way of thinking. This will help. Thanks! I’ll try really hard, although I do enjoy some saracasm at times, that might be hard. But I’ll try.
Thanks!
Since you challenged us all the other day with this, the question I’ve been contemplating is:
How does this go deeper than just the surface?
Not saying these sorts of things is an important first step. But we want more than just the outside of the cup to be clean, you know? I mean, if I just train myself to bite my tongue but continue to think unpleasant things, that’s not enough.
[...] my state of being in this area. First, I started to really believe and live out the idea that “love spreads”, then this weekend I drove to Northway Church in Albany, while spending time with some really great [...]