Love Sounds Different--June 7, 2023

Love Sounds Different--June 7, 2023

"Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to all who hear." [Ephesians 4:29]

I don't believe that Christians should only ever talk about nice, pleasant, and universally beloved topics like puppy dogs, ice cream and sunshine.  But I do think that folks should be able to hear a difference in the way the followers of Jesus speak compared with the noise around.

We live in a time, it seems, when being crude and hateful (or both) are mistaken for signs of strength.  From politicians, demagogues, and pundits who wallow in name-calling or childish insults at their opponents to a certain strand of public opinion that takes it as a point of pride to cause offense to as many people as possible, we are as a society at risk of confusing being despicable with being tough.  And from there, well, we are in the midst of living through the way public discourse becomes a race to the bottom, with louder and louder voices trying to outdo one another in trolling their opponents.  It's not just a matter of being impolite or profane or saying words that used to get bleeped out over the airwaves--it's almost like there's a pride in dehumanizing other people, a machismo that incorrectly believes upsetting people is automatically a sign of good leadership.  To be sure, throughout history, aspiring leaders have always wanted to project the impression of vigor and power--whether by actually leading a charge into battle, or, as in our time, being as obnoxious and as much like a horse's rear-end as possible.

But among the community of Jesus, we are called to something different--something more. Real strength that arises from love sounds different from the kind that comes from hate and cruelty, because so often those are really camouflage for insecurity.

Because we believe that Jesus has redefined what "power" really looks like and what "strength" really means, we no longer have to one-up each other with mean-spirited and childish attacks.  Because we see in Jesus what real authority is like--and how genuine leadership doesn't have to push others down into to puff itself up--we don't have to play those old, tired games, either.  And because we are learning to see all of our lives through the lens of Christ-like love, we no longer find it acceptable to be hateful toward anybody else, not even if it could score us "points" with supporters.

But, as you can imagine, that is going to mean we reject, and even outright dismantle, a lot of the conventional wisdom of our time that tries to re-brand indecency as virtue and mean-ness as virility. We will be people who do not celebrate when talking heads dehumanize the people they don't like or disagree with.  We'll be people who use our platforms, our social media, and our personal relationships to build people up.  And we will not care if someone else thinks we sound "weak" because we won't punch down with our words.

It may not make headlines, but it will get people's attention in subtler, quieter ways.  And most of all, it will be an embodiment of the love we've first seen in Jesus--which is what this whole life is really about anyway.

Today, consider how, where, what, and why we speak--and how we can resist the impulse to add only heat rather than light with our words.

Lord Jesus, enable us to speak, write, post, and share thoughts in ways that build people up.