So, this morning, we went to this pastors fellowship thing for pastors in our area. Honestly, it was quite boring, but we feel like we should go to these events because we want not only NLC to grow but God’s presence and kingdom throughout New England to expand. So, we go and we try to not offend anyone, and we try to contribute and be of assistance, and try to buy in and support things when we can do so without compromising our vision. And amazingly, they seem to like having us there and seem to want our input and like going with our ideas, which honeslty makes no sense since we are really not like any of the other churches there and are by far the youngest.
In any case, this whole things starts out with a sort of devotional thing from one the pastors. The guy leading today shared very boringly and very lengthily about the tongue. In spite of that fact, God showed me some things as I was trying to get something out of it…
What really stood out for me was that the we can not tame our tongues. Of course, we have all heard this idea before and we have all read James 3, but the reason was insightful for me. We can not tame out tongues because we are trying to tame and control the wrong thing. The tongue is a direct reflection of the heart, so we need to stop trying to control the tongue and worry about changing our hearts. God is much more concerned with our heart and is really only concerned with our tongue in as much as it reflects our heart in a public way. A practical example of this is that it is sort of like trying to get healthy by giving up one thing or working out on occassion. We might be able to marginally improve our health by not eating ice cream, but if we don’t change the underlying mindset, our actual weight, muscle, and shape are not going to get any better in the big picture.
My prayer this morning…
Psalm 19:14 (Message)
These are the words in my mouth;
these are what I chew on and pray.
Accept them when I place them
on the morning altar,
O God, my Altar-Rock,
God, Priest-of-My-Altar.
And the same passage again (NIV)
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
