Do you ever beat yourself up after a conversation, wishing you hadn’t said so much? My mouth embarrasses me far too often. It’s easy to fall into gossip and disparaging comments about others—especially when they’re headed for trouble, or when their choices hurt me personally.
Other than
duct tape or wiring our mouths shut, how can we keep from blurting out more
than is needed?
I have a
friend I admire in this regard. She does well to share news without going into
disparaging details. When she asks for prayer she doesn’t give a
blow by blow, even when she’s angry and hurt. Her self-control is amazing. I
asked her how and her answer continues to inspire me.
“Years ago,”
she said, “God challenged another friend of mine to not expose another person’s shame,
like Noah’s son Ham did.” I know the story from the book of Genesis but had
never looked at it that way. My friend continued, “I’ve taken it as my personal
goal as well. I try not expose the shame of other people, but rather, present
them to God.”
In case
you’re not familiar with the story, here’s what happened between Noah and his
sons. After the flood waters drained away, Noah planted a vineyard and got
drunk on the wine from his fields. His son, Ham, found him lying naked in his
tent and ran to tell his brothers Shem and Japheth. He probably expected his
brothers to laugh with him. Instead, they took a garment and backed into their
father’s tent to cover him up. When Noah sobered he heard what had happened and
was angry with Ham. In fact he cursed him, but Noah blessed his sons Shem and
Japheth for honoring him, even in his inebriated state. (You can read this
account in Gen. 9:18-28).
When we over
share, we expose the nakedness of the one we're talking about. Why do we do this?
Sometimes it’s to shock or amuse our friends, or because we don’t stop to think how
embarrassed they will be when others know what they’ve done. Or, we do it
to get back at them for the way they’ve treated us, or because we’re proud we
haven’t committed that particular sin. It makes us feel better about ourselves.
Shem and Japheth
didn’t dishonor their father by broadcasting his behavior, but they didn’t
pretend it was okay either. This is a tough balance in our society today, when
so many not only practice doing wrong, but want everyone to agree with their
choices. It has become unpopular to state the truth that “dad is drunk and
naked” and his behavior dishonors God.
If Noah did
this today Ham would have posted pictures on Facebook, written a funny song
about it. It would have shown up on reality TV or a sitcom called “Grapes
Unwrapped.”And the movie version of his book Noah, the Nude Alcoholic: My Introduction to Voyeurism would soon
come out in a theater near you. Too farfetched? I wonder.
Daily, believers
in Christ Jesus are not allowed the same freedom of speech as nonbelievers. It’s
not considered politically correct to call things right or wrong according to God’s holy law. We need to do it anyway.
However, our freedom of speech does not give us license to slander or expose others
unnecessarily—whether as prayer requests, private conversations, or on social
media. What is God saying to you about this?
#prayerrequestgossip
#embarrassingdetails #oversharing #sayingtoomuch
Ouch! This one hit home a bit too much.
ReplyDeleteYou aren't the only one who has said that. Seems like a lot of us have troubles with our mouths!
ReplyDelete