Watch Your Mouth...and Fingers

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

It is so easy to get annoyed and ticked off these days. It's pretty obvious that quite a few people forgot their manners over the past decade or so. Would it be strange if I walked around wagging my finger at people telling them to mind their manners? Don't answer that, I know, I know. I mean, the thought has crossed my mind every day for years now and I'm sure I'm not alone in this motherly instinct to want people to get along. If you see me in public struggling with an invisible foe, no worries, I haven't lost my mind, I'm just having an argument with my finger (maybe that constitutes me losing my mind…I don’t know). Thank goodness, the Lord has protected me from myself or I may have caused a riot with how sensitive this world is anymore. Since wagging my finger at people would be frowned upon (along with breathing and everything else that offends people these days) I feel like it's easy to get everything bottled up inside. This, in turn, makes us grumpy people at the drop of a hat who say/type harsh things just because we're basically given a free pass to do so.

Here is my metaphorical finger wag at you....yes, you (and myself...Lord knows I need this too). Watch your mouth and mind your manners! I'm going to throw this line out as well, "Just because they did something wrong, doesn't give you the right to do something wrong back." Do you feel like you're five yet? Isn't it sad that, as adults, the same one-liners our parents gave us still apply to our behavior, maybe even more so? 1 Corinthians 13:11 says, "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." It’s time for us to stop acting like spoiled children who didn’t get their way and start acting like the adults we are. No more silly arguments online with strangers; no more random outbursts because you got your feelings hurt. Carry yourself with grace, dignity, and as few words as possible. My dad has always said, “Less talk is better.” It’s a simple phrase that carries a lot of wisdom. Many situations would be diffused or never even start if we would just shut our mouths and turn of the spigot.

Colossians 4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.