Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
NL Daily Devotion for Thursday, March 2, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Sometimes I am quite shocked at the things that come out of people’s mouths. Mind you, I often joke that I lack filters—I say what I think without compunction, though I am generally careful to choose an appropriate audience. But when I watch the political situation in the United States, I cannot help but be utterly flabbergasted by the intense ugliness that comes out in discourse, whether on social media or in the halls of Congress. Sometimes it seems to me that there is a total disconnect between what people claim they believe in and what their words and behaviors reveal they actually believe. The results are little short of chaos.
But I don’t have to watch C-Span or scroll through Twitter to experience these disconnects. Sometimes I see them in myself. I judge others for being judgmental (um…hello?). I self-righteously blurt an opinion that hurts someone else and I later find to have been completely wrong. Most if not all of us find ourselves speaking before we think at one time or another. God forgives us, of course, but I think God would also want us carefully considering how to just take that pause so that what comes out of our mouth is pleasing to God, rather than just the perfect sound bite or comeback.
How do I make sure that what I say is loving and kind?
