Stop muddying the message with "YOU"!

Probing Proverbs 15:2 The tongue of the wise makes knowledge appealing, but the mouth of a fool belches out foolishness. 

I remember when I was hosting a team of college men & women from the USA on a mission trip, their adult leader, from California and a major “hugger” to every Filipino he met, confronted a young lady on the team publicly. She was crushed and took a good while to get over it. At our debrief that night I shared with him that this kind of thing should have been handled in private. He justified himself and stated that in California that is not the way they do it. I chose to hold my tongue and allow the Lord to deal with him. The next day he asked one of the Filipinos I was discipling what was the main thing that bothered him about Americans. In a split second, my disciple said, “we don’t like the way you American men hug our women!” Enough said! 

Wow! What a contrast is made here. “Appealing” versus “Foolishness”!

Two words, “makes” & “belches” here are very important to help us understand the wisdom communicated. Notice, to make something appealing it requires the step-by-step process we call knowledge. Whereas foolishness is just “belched” out! 

How appropriate this comment is! In a polite and sensitive society, a “belch” is to be kept private. When the person fails to do that, it embarrasses those around and should embarrass the individual that did it.

 

However, in this present era, what has become most important to many is that they are heard, no matter how they do it. Rudeness, volume, sarcasm, and even violence is being used. 

Sadly, many of these folks do not realize that their methodology is overwhelming their message! Some of the messages are important and as stewards of our life and this world we are being distracted from what is important and are deceived into investing our time and energy upon the symptoms of the problems instead of the problems!   

For example, the environment. This is very important and as stewards of this earth we should be dialoging and working to do all we can to take care of our planet because God gave us the oversight. 

Destroying someone’s property, becoming violent or pushing yourself onto them does not communicate your message, it just makes people angry and disgusted with you, your message is lost!

“We have to, to make you listen”, “If our method offends, too bad!” and other statements of justification do not communicate your message, they just expose what a little brain you have! Thoughtful and thinking people figure out how to bridge to their audience. They place that pressure on themselves, not shove it down people’s throats. As a Christian, I know people will be offended by the gospel message, but I do not have to make them offended of me! 

The So What: Do you “belch” in people’s faces? How much do you care about the person you are trying to reach versus your message? Do you grant people the same grace God grants you – to disagree? Does that produce disdain, hatred, or violence in you? If you love the message more than the person…what does that say about you?