1 John 4 (The Message)
4-6My dear children, you come from God and belong to God. You have already won a big victory over those false teachers, for the Spirit in you is far stronger than anything in the world. These people belong to the Christ-denying world. They talk the world's language and the world eats it up. But we come from God and belong to God. Anyone who knows God understands us and listens. The person who has nothing to do with God will, of course, not listen to us. This is another test for telling the Spirit of Truth from the spirit of deception.
I have watched a lot of sporting events in my time. I have seen high school, college, and Professional teams in many different sports. I have a question? Is trash talking all that necessary? As a matter of fact "Trash Talking" doesn't just take place in sports, it takes place everywhere. Just watch a political ad, or a Sunday News Program, or Listen to Talk Radio. When did it become ok to Publicly Insult someone? The sad thing about trash talking in political ads, it seems to work. We are swayed by these ads. It is difficult to tell the difference between the Spirit of Truth or the Spirit of Deception.
I just spent the last hour going on you tube and watching the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1959. (I can hear you trash talking me right now..........I am not a geek, a nerd, or whatever the popular term is now-a-days) These debates were great. Both candidates made their points, but they never dipped below the line of being disrespectful. Even "tricky-dicky" (sorry, that was trash-talking wasn't it?) was very respectful and found many points where he and Kennedy agreed. I watched a few of the ads. They were a whole lot more civil than the John McCain ads claiming Obama was Brittney Spears or the Obama ads that responded in the same negative way. I have heard some recent political debates from the upcoming "heated" election. No wonder we can't get anything done in this country, we hate each other! If we don't hate each other, we sure act like we do. What ever happened to "A house divided can not stand!"? The worlds language is destroying us. Yet, we long to hear it! We love the adversarial / competitive / in your face debate. But what we get at the end of the day is just a bunch of hurt feelings, animosity, and vindictiveness.
I've picked on the politicians enough. What about your own talk? What about mine? Are we any different than the politicians? I'm not sure we are. We over analyze, criticize, and second guess all the decisions of our Coaches, Bosses, husbands, wives, kids, preachers, and just about anyone else we can think of. So, what can we do? STOP IT! End of Story!
Dear Lord, Help us to control our tongue. Help us to think before we speak. Help us to be understanding, loving, forgiving, kind, and respectful of the people in our daily lives. Lord, we pray for our Political Leaders, our Media Leaders, and ourselves. Give us wisdom, guidance, and understanding when it comes to dealing with our adversaries and our enemies. Help us to use Love as our greatest tool for change. In your great name, I pray. Amen!
I just spent the last hour going on you tube and watching the Kennedy-Nixon debates of 1959. (I can hear you trash talking me right now..........I am not a geek, a nerd, or whatever the popular term is now-a-days) These debates were great. Both candidates made their points, but they never dipped below the line of being disrespectful. Even "tricky-dicky" (sorry, that was trash-talking wasn't it?) was very respectful and found many points where he and Kennedy agreed. I watched a few of the ads. They were a whole lot more civil than the John McCain ads claiming Obama was Brittney Spears or the Obama ads that responded in the same negative way. I have heard some recent political debates from the upcoming "heated" election. No wonder we can't get anything done in this country, we hate each other! If we don't hate each other, we sure act like we do. What ever happened to "A house divided can not stand!"? The worlds language is destroying us. Yet, we long to hear it! We love the adversarial / competitive / in your face debate. But what we get at the end of the day is just a bunch of hurt feelings, animosity, and vindictiveness.
I've picked on the politicians enough. What about your own talk? What about mine? Are we any different than the politicians? I'm not sure we are. We over analyze, criticize, and second guess all the decisions of our Coaches, Bosses, husbands, wives, kids, preachers, and just about anyone else we can think of. So, what can we do? STOP IT! End of Story!
Dear Lord, Help us to control our tongue. Help us to think before we speak. Help us to be understanding, loving, forgiving, kind, and respectful of the people in our daily lives. Lord, we pray for our Political Leaders, our Media Leaders, and ourselves. Give us wisdom, guidance, and understanding when it comes to dealing with our adversaries and our enemies. Help us to use Love as our greatest tool for change. In your great name, I pray. Amen!
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