God Speak

Recently, I emailed this message to my daughter: “I had an intimate moment with a tall blonde,” but then I added, “and your mother was sitting next to me.”  When Sarah got the email, she laughed because she worked for Starbucks.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the language of Starbucks, a “tall blonde” is a small, medium roast coffee.

Starbucks has one of the numerous “languages” that we speak in our country.  I’ve learned from my foster daughter that in Ebonics, a crib is not a baby’s bed and a grill is not something you cook on.  I’ve also been told that texting is another language and the Pidgin English that was despised by my English teachers, while I was growing up, is now an official language—Hawaiian Creole.

Sometimes humans use language to communicate within a closed community; however, I think that the purpose of language is to share ourselves with others.  We want to know one another because we desire to have a relationship with each other.  With this in mind, the purpose of the church is to make God known (Ephesians 3:10-11) in a language that the world will understand (II Corinthians 5:20) so God can reconcile all people to Himself (II Corinthians 5:18-19).

James tells us one way that we can accomplish this task.  He says, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires” (James 1:19, 20).  Eugene Peterson interprets these verses as, “Lead with your ears, follow up with your tongue, and let anger straggle in the rear.  God’s righteousness doesn’t grow from human anger.”  All too often we are easily offended and angered by the language of the world.  What I hear James saying in this context is, “Chill out.  If you want to be in good standing with God, seek to understand others.”

I often see myself in others when I submit to James’ admonition.  In doing so, I am also reminded that my actions do not always reflect the way I feel or think.  Besides that, I don’t often understand my inconsistencies (Romans 7:15), but I try not to let my thoughts take up residence there.   Instead, I try to rest in the promises of God.  I also know that God sees the inconsistencies in me (Proverbs 16:2), but I am also assured that the Holy Spirit speaks to the Father for me in a language They understand, to accomplish Their purpose in me (Romans 8:26-27).  I not only find refuge in these words, but a doorway to compassion is opened for me.

When we try to understand where a person is coming from, we will probably learn to communicate God’s message more fully.  In the process we may even get to know ourselves, and yes, God even better.