Religious Speak

Everyone knows the person. And just about everyone has been that person. You know, the person whose thought:speak ratio comes out to about 0:86. This is the person who brags about themselves, how well they can do something or what a wonderful thing they did for someone. They toot their own horn. But in the next sentence, they string together some colorful language, whine about their coworkers, or slam the person who got under their skin.

I've done plenty of this in my life. While I think other people are growing more impressed with me by the minute, one of two things is actually happening: 1. I look and sound like a complete fool now, or 2. I'm building walls of sand that look impressive but will come crashing down around me and make me look like a fool later.

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he decieves himself and his religion is worthless. -James 1:26

This little paragraph at the end of chapter 1 led me to make a few lists, one of which is below. Boasting about our goodness or religiousness to make ourselves look and feel holier than thou will eventually destroy our witness. Here are a few ways our tongues keep people from coming closer to Christ:

• Gossip
• Slander
• Boasting
• Complaining
• Filthy language
• Lies
• Speaking in anger

The list could go on. When I stopped to think about it, I was a little surprised to realize how much of my verbal life consists of these. Yeah, so maybe I don't cuss, but what about all the complaining I do at work? Or all the gossip I participate in? Or the times I talk down about someone because I'm frustrated or angry with them?

I spend a lot, and I mean a lot, of time with people every day. That's a humbling realization to have, to think of all the time I spend each day not pointing to Christ by the way I speak.

So what should we do instead?

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. -James 1:27

It's like James is saying, "Hey, don't be a fool by calling yourself a Christian and then running around shooting your mouth off. You want to be religious? Then do what pleases God - look after his children who don't have parents, and take care of the widows who no longer have a husband to support them. And by the way, don't let the secular things in life lead you astray. That's true religion."