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Bad Breath

April 26, 2010 | By: The Table

Lately, God keeps confronting me with the power of words:

  • A conversation with a friend this week included some critical words I later regretted.
  • A dinner last night with extended family offered life-giving conversation, punctuated with affirmation and laughter.
  • Our study of James at House Groups on Wednesday night focused on the powerful ways our speech can give life or destroy it, draw people towards Jesus or push them away - boasting, praising, cursing, gossip, promises.

In the midst of these experiences, God has reminded me of two things that have been helpful.

This morning I read Proverbs 10:32 “The speech of a good person clears the air; the words of the wicked pollute it.” This verses makes me think of someone who’s eaten garlic or onions and has bad breath. In the same way, what we fill our minds and hearts with can affect the aroma of our speech. Matthew 12:34 says “Out of the heart the mouth speaks.” So I have to ask, what’s my “diet” like?  What am I filling my mind and heart with that impacts my “breath”?

Second, God reminded me of a litmus test for speech I had read years ago. Before you speak, ask yourself:

  • Is it true?
  • Is it necessary?
  • Is it kind?

It was a reminder I needed this week. What about you? How’s your breath?

Laura Crosby serves as the Director of Spiritual Formation at The Table

Transformation

April 21, 2010 | By: The Table

The other day I took a walk with a close friend. At the end of our time together I confessed something about myself that is really ugly. Like peach pit ugly. It was about an attitude towards someone in my life. My attitude is selfish and unloving and not kingdom bringing. Part of what prompted me to take a risk and admit this to my friend was remembering the admonition to “Confess your sins one to another . . .” in James. But while it was both embarrassing and freeing to share this ugliness, I was aware that part of me was even self-righteous. I realized that what I really wanted was not to obey this command. What I really wanted was for my friend to support me in my sin. To understand and commiserate, and agree with my feelings about this other person.

Later I was reflecting on our conversation and I went back and read the whole verse in James. It finishes “ . . . and pray for each other so that you may be healed.” It’s not just about confessing, and certainly not getting support for my sin. There’s a purpose and the purpose is healing from sin . . .  transformation into Christ-likeness. Now this sounds nice, but I’d much rather just appear holy by confessing (even something ugly), than actually going beyond that to do the hard work of changing. It’s a lot easier to work at image management than undergo true heart surgery. Jesus had strong words for people like me (and you?). In Matthew 23, He says “Woe to you . . . hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside are full of greed and self-indulgence . . . First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

I started there with the Lord and said, “Help me to even want You to change my heart in this area please." Second, I took a hard look at the inside and acknowledged my own sin that others graciously forgive. Lastly, I feel like I need to ask my friend to pray for me too - that my heart would be changed and made like Jesus in this relationship. 

What about you? Can you relate? Is there sin that it’s hard for you to want to change? A relationship where you know your attitude needs to change, but you resist? Are you, like me, guilty of image management? Is it hard to look inside? What does confession look like in your life?

Laura Crosby serves as the Director of Spiritual Formation at The Table

Wow or Whisper

April 6, 2010 | By: The Table

This week we start reading Acts and the Holy Spirit shows up with a bang! Violent wind, tongues of fire, supernatural abilities! Can’t imagine how scary and exciting that must have been. But I also wonder what it would have been like to be Elijah who had a different experience with God. In I Kings 19:10-13 there was a great wind, and then an earthquake, and then a fire, but God’s voice came in a “sound of sheer silence.” Sometimes God intervenes in our lives in dramatic ways, but usually it’s a soft nudge to do something or a prompting from Him that we need to be alert to. I love this story that Mark Batterson shares about a Holy Spirit nudge and a woman who works at a ministry called the Dream Center who was paying attention:

“One morning she felt like the Holy Spirit was prompting her to take her woolly socks to work. She thought she was losing her mind. She got to the Dream Center and one of the prostitutes that they minister to literally collapsed inside the door. She held her, fed her, and then asked her: if you could have anything what would it be? She said her feet were freezing and all she wanted was a pair of woolly socks. Not only did she give her the woolly socks. They matched her outfit.”

What experiences have you had with obeying a nudge from the Holy Spirit? Pay attention this week and share your experiences with our online community!

Laura Crosby serves as the Director of Spiritual Formation at The Table