"Come out from among them..."
Dear friends of New Way Christian Church,
We are all well rested and returned from Christmas and New Year holidays. However, somehow this year it is not the same old, same old.
God is doing a new thing! Let My people rejoice! We are being challenged to “come out from among them”. Be the light and the salt. We must be seen to be different from the world and its system.
One of the areas in our behavior that needs attention is language! The words we speak; are they pure, positive and praiseworthy? What of profanity (swearing)?
Swearing has become the norm in our society whether at work, school or home. Using American stats, the average male has a vocabulary of 58 swear words while females have 29.
Many years ago Robert Raikes, a writer, was on his way to interview someone in England. He had to walk through the neighbourhood to get there. He was horrified at the terrible language used by the children; swearing, cussing and even using the Lord’s name in vain! He was so concerned that he decided to do something about it. And he did. He started a new institution, a new kind of school, a new ministry that, to this day we call – Sunday School.
During the days of the French Revolution king Louis XVI and his queen were executed by the guillotine in public. Then the crowd demanded that their son the prince, who was six years old also be executed so as to be rid of all royalty. But a single voice in the crowd shouted, “No. don’t kill him because his soul will go straight to heaven and royalty don’t deserve that! Rather hand him over to the workers - they will teach him to sin. Then when he dies he will go to hell where he belongs!”
So they did. They handed him over. But he refused to swear. No matter what they did to him he would not swear. Instead he said, “I was born to be a king and I won’t talk that way.”
Which is exactly the attitude we should have towards the devil when he tempts us to do the same.
On a lighter note: Even Noah nearly didn’t let chickens onto the ark because they used fowl language! Ha! Ha!
As we ready ourselves for the 21 day fast, this is an area which needs attention.
Bless you all as we serve the King of kings together.
We love you
Billy & Michelle
