Exemplary

(06.30.21– Jesus Are You OK? –Matthew 5:34)

My friend, may I ask you a question? Shouldn’t we be surprised or have we come to accept a lot of things as normal that weren’t considered anywhere near “normal” only decades ago in terms of foul speech?

My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.

I'm M. Clifford Brunner.

“Well, you know, that’s life!” I turned and walked away from a business associate who had just uttered that all-too familiar cliché. I had spent the last 10 minutes confiding with him about what I felt was a pretty serious moral dilemma. A mutual acquaintance, someone we both knew and respected, had fallen into some pretty serious, personal trouble. His marriage of over 40 years had ended abruptly and he was now pursuing a new relationship with someone 20 years his junior. This was someone we both had held in high esteem and now he had fallen more than a few notches in my viewpoint. Yet, my friend's response was simply: “That’s life!” I shook my head as I walked away. “Is that really life?” I muttered to myself. It certainly wasn’t life as God had designed it and it wasn’t life, as I knew it. Yet, that cliché was so easily delivered. As Christians ought we ever to accept that rather glib overview of how things are?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We've come to accept a lot of things as normal that weren’t consider anywhere near “normal” only decades ago. One such area is what were willing to tolerate with our ears.

National Public Radio reports: Kids swear. They swear like sailors. Why is that, and should parents be worried? NPR investigated and found, logically enough, that kids swear because they pick up the words from others, particularly mom and dad. “That’s just language learning,” says psychologist Paul Bloom. “These words have no special status as taboo words. Learning they’re taboo words is a later step.” But parents aren't the only influences. Bloom and his wife once tried inventing a family swear word, screaming “flep”whenever something went wrong. “The children looked at us as if we were crazy,” he says. Kids tend to learn more from their peer groups than their parents, explains another psychologist. But playground potty mouths shouldn’t worry parents. “That’s part of growing up,” Bloom says. (www.newser.com)

That's life? That’s part of growing up? It may be that you and I, whether young or old, will never be able to escape a world filled with foulness. True. And, certainly, it is part of the worldly environment we have to dip our toe into every day. But, it isn’t a part of how we are maturing as Christians. As we grow in faith from youth to adulthood, bridling the tongue is one exercise each of us ought to be practicing. Vulgarity and cursing are part of the world, but they are not part of God’s plan for Christian living. God states: I “cannot tolerate wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13). As parents and grandparents we need to practice intolerance when it comes to speaking or listening to coarse, vulgar and cursing talk. We need to watch our tongues so that we might be comfortable having others watch our lives. “That’s life!” Life as God meant it to be.

We pray. Heavenly Father, we live in a very vulgar world, ripped apart by cuss words, vulgarities and downright polluted language and gestures. Lord, may we never be guilty of this ourselves. Forgive us when we slip and give our neighbors and friend the image of anything less than a clean mind and heart. Help us by Your Spirit to keep our minds, hearts and tongues focused on the beauty and perfection of Your Word, Jesus Christ. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.

If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to ”This Passing Day!”

<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.

Exemplary

(06.30.21– Jesus Are You OK? –Matthew 5:34)

My friend, may I ask you a question? Shouldn’t we be surprised or have we come to accept a lot of things as normal that weren’t considered anywhere near “normal” only decades ago in terms of foul speech?

My friend, Life’s a story, welcome to This Passing Day.

I'm M. Clifford Brunner.

“Well, you know, that’s life!” I turned and walked away from a business associate who had just uttered that all-too familiar cliché. I had spent the last 10 minutes confiding with him about what I felt was a pretty serious moral dilemma. A mutual acquaintance, someone we both knew and respected, had fallen into some pretty serious, personal trouble. His marriage of over 40 years had ended abruptly and he was now pursuing a new relationship with someone 20 years his junior. This was someone we both had held in high esteem and now he had fallen more than a few notches in my viewpoint. Yet, my friend's response was simply: “That’s life!” I shook my head as I walked away. “Is that really life?” I muttered to myself. It certainly wasn’t life as God had designed it and it wasn’t life, as I knew it. Yet, that cliché was so easily delivered. As Christians ought we ever to accept that rather glib overview of how things are?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. We've come to accept a lot of things as normal that weren’t consider anywhere near “normal” only decades ago. One such area is what were willing to tolerate with our ears.

National Public Radio reports: Kids swear. They swear like sailors. Why is that, and should parents be worried? NPR investigated and found, logically enough, that kids swear because they pick up the words from others, particularly mom and dad. “That’s just language learning,” says psychologist Paul Bloom. “These words have no special status as taboo words. Learning they’re taboo words is a later step.” But parents aren't the only influences. Bloom and his wife once tried inventing a family swear word, screaming “flep”whenever something went wrong. “The children looked at us as if we were crazy,” he says. Kids tend to learn more from their peer groups than their parents, explains another psychologist. But playground potty mouths shouldn’t worry parents. “That’s part of growing up,” Bloom says. (www.newser.com)

That's life? That’s part of growing up? It may be that you and I, whether young or old, will never be able to escape a world filled with foulness. True. And, certainly, it is part of the worldly environment we have to dip our toe into every day. But, it isn’t a part of how we are maturing as Christians. As we grow in faith from youth to adulthood, bridling the tongue is one exercise each of us ought to be practicing. Vulgarity and cursing are part of the world, but they are not part of God’s plan for Christian living. God states: I “cannot tolerate wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13). As parents and grandparents we need to practice intolerance when it comes to speaking or listening to coarse, vulgar and cursing talk. We need to watch our tongues so that we might be comfortable having others watch our lives. “That’s life!” Life as God meant it to be.

We pray. Heavenly Father, we live in a very vulgar world, ripped apart by cuss words, vulgarities and downright polluted language and gestures. Lord, may we never be guilty of this ourselves. Forgive us when we slip and give our neighbors and friend the image of anything less than a clean mind and heart. Help us by Your Spirit to keep our minds, hearts and tongues focused on the beauty and perfection of Your Word, Jesus Christ. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!

Therefore my friend, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry for itself; each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matt 6:34) This Passing Day. May this passing day honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be a blessing to you and everyone you meet. Find a stranger and say hello. Don't let another day pass without your day blessing someone else.

If you have a special prayer request, please send your request to ”This Passing Day!”

<thispassingday@gmail.com> From Beech Springs, God bless you for Jesus sake.