Precious

If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall serve as my mouth.

 - From Jeremiah 15

Another four years have come and gone. And here we go again.

It's a presidential election season, and the word "liar" is about to become meaningless, again, due to overuse and misuse.

There are a lot of horrible labels to be directed against others. "Liar" may rank near the top. Our generation has placed "racist" as the very worst thing, the most demeaning and awful thing, that you could label another. Meanwhile, a word that is probably more insulting, to more people from every race: the "F word" is tossed around casually. It's the closest thing to an act of violence without physically harming someone, and yet we all have to endure hearing it on a continual basis, every day.

The Presidential candidates will call each other a "liar" and "racist", coming and going, so that by the time one of them gets elected, at least half of the country will convince itself that Hitler would be an improvement.

Is it possible that the language of a political campaign counts as "worthless"?

If it divides good and intelligent people, and friends, against each other, would it have any value at all? If it turns family against itself, and motivates people to unfriend each other . . . how can that be worth anything?

On this very day, September 26, 2020, several of my friends on Facebook will engage in deliberate eye-pokes directed at friends and strangers. When you call a political leader a "liar" or "racist," is that not the same as labeling his/her supporters the same? If Joe Biden's a "groper," what is that saying about his followers? If you call Donald Trump a "moron," what are you saying about his voters?

Jesus said we shouldn't even call someone a "raca" (which sounds awfully close to "racist"), which means "idiot" or "fool," lest we sentence our very selves to hellfire.

I'll make a prediction. By midnight tonight, I will read at least ten statements on Social Media, made by my friends, that are the same as calling someone RACA! They will be in violation of one of Christ's clearest directives to us. They will be saying what is worthless. God told Jeremiah that He has no use for people that waste their words on worthless language.

What is "precious"? I also will look for precious language, that builds people up and builds God's kingdom, and at the end of the day, compare my two lists, and will try to fit all of it into tomorrow's Scripture and blog.