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These Words We Speak... As Christians

by Alex W. Dimmig

 

    Isn’t the creed of the Christian walk, “Walk the Talk.” But my concern is what are we talking about and to whom are we saying it too. I am guilty of telling others that I am Christian but as I strive forward, I find myself slipping, I may “Walk the Walk” but I don’t “Talk the Talk.”

 

    Most of what pours from our mouth comes from who our friends are, what we watch, what we listen to, and what we read. Do we spend more time watching TV than reading the Word of God? How does that effect our lives and who we interact with on a daily basis?

 

   We grow up being influenced by our parents, youth group and church, but as soon as we move on with our lives in college and on the “Outside” certain values that we hold start to erode and if we don’t hold on to Jesus Christ we start to slip. The world looks so good to us from the Christian shelter that we want to explore every opportunity but in the process we don’t see our cornerstone faith taking a worldly beating.

 

   There’s MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, and a slue of other cable stations that stretch the envelop when it comes to programming and how much you can say without getting “BLEEPED.” We watch intently as pictures whiz by and the words saturate our brains and eventually into our daily vocabulary and lives. How much of this do we share with others in everyday conversation? None, Some or ALL. What does that say about who we are as Christians? People only know your character by how you act and what you say.

 

James 1:26 states:

"If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless."

 

   If they know you are Christian but your mouth sounds like trash what do they think? Are you proclaiming the word of God in everything you do? The best witness you can be to a nonbeliever is to abstain from a certain activities and stand firm on your foundation. I have to confess I am not perfect in being a good witness. I have let my guard down to often to satisfy my lust for worldly activities.

 

   I am now 28 years old, and I spent my birthday week at Cornerstone ‘01 among 25,000 Christians camping on a 579 acre farm in the middle of nowhere. I went with 7 others guys and my best friend and business partner. Sitting around talking at our campsite, I started to notice the influence the world has had on us. The conversation starts out clean and friendly and within a good 5 minutes it begins to erode and become totally corrupted. This is a group of Christians talking in their own circle. No real profanity or swearing but the level of talk went from average adults to pointless, teen crude and toilet humor and sickening jokes and some South Park humor all rolled into one. (For those who don’t know, South Park is an animated cartoon on Comedy Central featuring foul-mouthed kids.)

 

    The biggest problem is that I found myself laughing at the humor and pitching in my dull humor whenever possible. We are all human and maybe we all need to release some energy now and again. But I think we need to ask the question; “How far is to far?”

 

   How can we communicate to word of God to others if this is how we act among our brothers and sisters in Christ. I don’t have any answers, but want you to think about your own life and your own influences.