Skip to main content

Unfiltered but Honest Words

 

Unguarded or unfiltered words often come out of our mouths when we are in stressful situations.  And the more stressful the situation, the more unguarded or unfiltered the words seem to be and the quicker they seem to come out.

If we are seeking help because of our stressful situation and our words come out too quickly and too unguardedly, we often say the wrong things and run the risk of losing out on what we are seeking.

On top of that, if there are requisite conditions to be met in order to get help, our unguarded words could indicate an inability to meet the conditions.  For example, if I desperately need your help and your condition is that I proclaim my love for your daughter; if I say that I love her, I position myself to get the help I am looking for.  However, if I blurt out that I don’t love her or that I only like her, I’m sunk.

Let’s turn the tables a bit.  If you were the one who is setting the requisite conditions, how would you respond if they are not followed?  Many of us would probably just dismiss the request since the conditions were not met.

But look at how Jesus handled such a situation:

A man had an opportunity to bring his son to Jesus for healing.  The boy had been terribly unwell for years.  The man prefaced his request of Jesus to heal his son by saying “if you can do anything”.  Jesus responded with “If you can!  All things are possible for one who believes.” 

The requisite condition that Jesus seemed to establish was that the man needed to demonstrate faith in order to get help for his son.  But in his desperate situation, the man immediately blurted out:  “I believe, help my unbelief” (Mark 9:24).

It could be argued that the father didn’t filter his words correctly and so he didn’t quite come up with the expected answer.  But rather than just dismissing the man, Jesus accepted the man’s wavering faith and healed his son. 

Filtered or not, in a way the man did us a big favor by blurting out words that encapsulate the age old tension between faith and unbelief.  While we would like to always have a firm “I believe”, doubts sometimes creep in and we end up with a squishy: “I believe, help my unbelief”.

Yet we can be assured that when we blurt out our unguarded words that might be indicative of our wavering faith, we can do so without fear that we will be dismissed!

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excel Still More!

To excel, according to some of the meanings from a few dictionaries, is to surpass others, do extremely well, outdo, do something better than anyone else. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we find the phrase “excel still more”.   It prompts the question:  if we are already doing something better than anyone else, why would we be encouraged to do even more? Perhaps it would be helpful to see the wording that other translations use for “excel still more” to see why we would be encouraged to do so.  Here is a sampling: • abound more and more • to keep doing so more and more • but try even harder • live that way more and more. • that you progress even more. • that you increase more and more in how you ought to walk Maybe it would also be helpful to see some other verses where the word “excel” is used: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.”...
Post a Comment
Read more

Value Proposition

Value proposition:  it’s a marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.  It should clearly and concisely communicate what customers can gain from selecting a particular brand over that of its competitors. In a value proposition, you don’t want your product to be viewed as being worth less than what your competitors offer.   But even worse, in a bit of a quirk of how letters and spaces can fall, if you take out the space between “worth” and “less”, you get “worthless”, which means something of no value.   If that word is used in conjunction with how your product is viewed by customers, it’s a word that will likely kill your brand. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul, in a sense, communicated some value propositions. In chapter three, he starts off with describing the value of some things that many considered as extremely valuable in that day and age.   They had to do with status and achievement in the reli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Open Immediately

The envelope had a specific command prominently printed on the outside.  It said “Open Immediately”. Immediately normally means now or without waiting; without interval of time. The envelope also had a company name prominently printed on the outside.  It was “Endurance”. Endurance normally is t he ability to sustain a prolonged effort or activity; the ability to keep doing something difficult, unpleasant, or painful for a long time. There are times when we want God to respond immediately, as without interval of time: “ But you, O Lord , do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!”  (Ps 22:19). And there are other times when we are glad that God responds slowly, as in sustained over a long time:  “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord , the Lord , the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger , abounding in love and faithfulness,” (Ex 34:6) Intentional or not, the printing on that envelope was a contradiction in te...
Post a Comment
Read more