What’s in Your Mouth?

I work in a secular setting where I don’t have the breadth of freedom I wish I had to say all of the things that are so important to people’s souls. Certainly, the Lord has opened doors over the years and I am very thankful to Him for so doing.

But as I contemplate the Christian Life and our purpose, it leads me to ask what is in the mouth of the believer. I am noticing a divergence within the church. I think it’s important here to remind us of the scripture that says a house divided against itself will not stand. It is also important to remember that Jesus said if we deny Him before man He will deny us before His Father in Heaven.

I don’t know if it’s a trend but I suspect so. What am I talking about? I am talking about us trying to be so palatable to the world and so ingratiating that we blend in. We are a set apart people, the Word says. It says we are the salt and the light here on Earth and that a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. It also says if the salt loses its savor it is good for nothing but to be trampled under foot.

I find that some parts of the body are allowing Satan to come in full force. There is a shying away from words like Christian, holiness, Bible and even church. The Bible says come out from among them and be ye separate. If you have what I have and I’m not doing well, I will not seek you out for help because you’re in just as bad of shape as I am. But if you have something different, something extraordinary that is drawing me to you because I know in some way you will point me to the right answer, I will come running to you.

In the business world I’ve been told to dumb myself down. In my personal life I’ve been told the same. In the church world I’ve been told to not be so bold because I might frighten away those that are not yet believers.

But the Lord is speaking to me greatly about my identity, knowing who I am and coming out from the herd or the crowd. I really have to go the way of the ministers that are boldly declaring the new things that God is doing, which are in alignment with the principles of who He has shown us He always has been and always will be in His Word. In fact, He tells us in His Word He is doing a new thing and asks us whether or not we are perceiving it.

One such minister speaks about God calling him to be a forerunner and how it’s a very lonely and unenviable position in many cases. That reminds me of the Apostle Paul and the disciples that Jesus called, who worked alongside of Him and really were emboldened in a fresh way after His Ascension.

I am discontented and troubled within my spirit as I compose this. I am really coming to the point of realization that just as Jesus offended so many of the religious persons of His day and I am called to resemble Him, His warning is so correct that if they hated Him they will hate me too. And I am getting so comfortable with that idea.

The terrifically sad part of that to me however, is that there is a division that is going to be magnified in the church as there are both wheat and tare growing up together not just outside of the church walls but within them. Now of course I understand the church is not a building but I say it that way to draw a distinction between those that are truly a part of the church, the body of Christ, versus those that suit up, show up and do not know Him or even those that ultimately will walk away from a once held faith in Jesus..

Listen, it’s been said that you’ve got to stand for something or you will fall for anything. We are in a day and age of great wickedness and turmoil where those claiming to be Christians who are very well-known are judging and making statements completely antithetical to the Word of God, the Bible. Whose side are you on? Today is the day of salvation, God told us in His Word. We are not promised tomorrow nor even a breath in the next moment.

Right is right, not relative. Please contemplate that and ask God to speak to you and embolden you each and every day to speak what He would have you to speak even in the face of friends, family and enemies.

May you perceive God’s blessings today.