Perhaps it may turn out a sang,
Perhaps turn out a sermon.

-- R. Burns Epistle to a Young Friend

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Loose Lips



You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.  -- Leviticus 19:14

It is an illusion to think that anyone ever gets away with anything.  We may speak ill to or of the deaf – or more likely – “behind the back” of someone.  No other human may ever hear what we mutter in the attics of our houses or our heads, but it is heard just the same.  It is a vibration in the spirit as a radio signal is a vibration in the electromagnetic spectrum, at least as real and with as much effect.  This may be disturbing to contemplate.  It kept a weary old man awake a while thinking about it last night.

Our smallest acts and idle words, our very thoughts are known in that highest of courts in heaven, be they righteous and honest or deceptive and dark.  It cannot be otherwise.  We can argue that much of it is trivial, and it is.  Most of the time our words lack the force of thought to propel them any distance and are so much worthless nonsense.  The worst that can be said of it is that it wastes our time or distracts us.  There are days when I think someone has cursed me.  I’m the usual suspect.  My words may have no effect on another, but they quite likely put me out of communion with the Father. 

Whether we realize it or not, our intentional and purposeful words -- of love or lust, goodwill or envy, are said before the Lord, and, possibly, before angels and demons.  Cursing a deaf person may do him no actual harm.  Putting a stumbling block in the path of a blind man may not trip him up.   Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, a curse that is causeless does not alight (Proverbs 26:2).  I believe that, and I believe that the righteous and the godly are generally given protection from curses.  If, however, a curse has a cause, that is, if someone is deserving of it (we can't deny that many are) and does not “abide in the shadow of the Almighty”, as Psalm 91 says, it could harm them. 

The blind and deaf are not limited to the physically handicapped.  Those who do not believe are spiritually disabled.  They see and hear only with the eyes and ears of the flesh.  As Christians, we have to be careful not to cause them more trouble.  As Rick reminded me so effectively the other day, “They know not what they do.”  We do not know when they will find their way onto the right path, the way of repentance, life and grace, and we certainly do not want them to stumble and fall or be hindered in some way by us if and when that happens.  Christians are often the biggest stumbling blocks non-Christians encounter.  Some of that is just a smokescreen and an excuse to live like the devil, but it is up to us to do our best to make sure it is never a valid criticism.  Peter said:  For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people.

Well, I could have saved myself some typing and just copied verses from First Peter.  

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.  (1 Peter 2:12)

Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. (1 Peter 3:9)

Or, like Peter, copied Psalm 34 (vv12-17):  

What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
The eyes of the LORD are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.
The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
When the righteous cry for help, the LORD hears and delivers them out of all their troubles.

4 comments:

John Lien said...

Good stuff Mush!

It is a vibration in the spirit as a radio signal is a vibration in the electromagnetic spectrum, at least as real and with as much effect. This may be disturbing to contemplate.

Yes. Very true. I've come relatively recently to believe this and so try to watch my thoughts. My evil fantasies are not harmless ways to let off steam.

I think it was MOTT where UF states that thoughts are higher up the reality spectrum than the physical world. (somebody correct me If I'm wrong on that cuz I'm running around with that notion in my head).

mushroom said...

I think you are right. It sounds like MOTT. If we're not careful, we start sounding like new-agey cranks and the "thoughts are things" crowd, but Jesus cursed a fig tree, and it died.

The Bible is full of stuff that we read and even believe without thinking through the implications -- like Paul saying, "In Him we live and move and have our being." We claim to believe that God is omniscient and omnipresent, yet we pray as if we were trying to get His attention.

julie said...

Good stuff, indeed. Before I discovered One Cosmos, I generally believed that thoughts were pretty much irrelevant, and that only actions matter. And of course, that didn't work out so well; a mind full of unconstrained thoughts is a lot like an echo chamber filled with shrieking children. Or a forest overgrown and strangled by dead brush.

These days, while I would not go so far as to say "thoughts are things," I have no doubt that thoughts do matter, very much. And yes, that even the things we think but don't (or at least, believe we don't) express can have tangible effects and repercussions.

John is correct; evil fantasies are not harmless.

*sigh*

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa...

mushroom said...

I have an audio version of James Allen's As a Man Thinketh on my mp3 that I sometimes go to sleep to. Allen's view in that little book cuts very close to truth, especially as regards character:

A noble and Godlike character is not a thing of favour or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with Godlike thoughts. An ignoble and bestial character, by the same process, is the result of the continued harbouring of grovelling thoughts.

And it progresses -- our thoughts influence our character and habits and these impact our circumstances.

Allen was part of the New Thought movement in the late 19th/early 20th centuries, a lot of which is out beyond the fallacies of my Word of Faith friends. AaMT, though, is mostly common sense.