A couple of years back I was recording Words for the Day for the audio feature and my radio segment and unbeknownst to me my granddaughter had gotten up early and come downstairs and overheard me recording it. Later she reported to her mother that, “Papaw was in his office talking to his computer about God.”
Months later one of my grandsons was visiting and like my granddaughter he eased up to my office door without my seeing him and listened in on a phone conversation I was having. He overheard me yelling at my creative design vendor who would not stop talking long enough for me to explain a project to him. His mother who watched the incident took a photo of him listening in on me with wide eyes and later even posted it on Facebook.
Ugh!
I would have much preferred that my grandson would have heard me “talking to my computer about God” than losing my temper and going off on someone who had aggravated me beyond my limit.
I’m not around my grandchildren that often, or any kids for that matter, and when I am I try my utmost to watch what I say. I just spent several days at Thanksgiving and the Christmas holiday with them, and I was ashamed of how many times I caught myself just before making some derogatory comment that was inappropriate for a small child to hear.
As I thought about this, there is never an appropriate time to make a comment like that, child present or not. Thus, I have vowed as a New Year’s resolution to work hard in 2017 to curb that type of behavior. It serves no purpose and negates any Godly testimony one might have.
I’ve battled a foul temper and bad language most of my life. Through the years I’ve worn rubber bands on my wrists and snapped them as punishment when I say something foul, fined myself money which I give to the needy, pulled my hair, and pinched myself hard, but nothing ever seems to permanently work.
I’ve prayed often about it, but my flesh seems to get the best of me at times.
The Apostle Paul who himself was frequently led into tempers, words, and actions which he did not approve had similar frustrations when he wrote in Romans 17:5: “I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.” I believe that hating sin and wanting to achieve a higher form of holiness is confirmation that we have a part in the salvation of the gospel, but that is no excuse for bad behavior.
So how do we fight this beast? Fighting evil is done almost exclusively in the mind. Our thoughts guide our actions. Romans 8:5 – Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit.
The answer to improving our behavior in 2017 and thereafter is to pray long and hard for strength from Christ to get our minds right:
Phil. 4:8
Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.
December 29 2016 – Click here to listen