“The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”
Matthew 12:34
At my house there lives a three-foot-tall parrot. Well, not really, but my daughter Micah does repeat nearly everything she hears. Most of the time, this is a good thing. For example, throughout the Christmas season (and for a few weeks afterwards), she told the Nativity story to everyone who would listen (and to several who would not!). Actually, her version of the story usually involved some extra-biblical elements pieced together from various events and conversations she’s witnessed. She once told her grandparents a version of the Nativity story which included how a camel broke Joseph’s cell-phone but the wisemen came, fixed it, and gave it to baby Jesus…
Needless to say, her mother and I have been forced to become quite selective about what words we use. While playing with a doll recently, Micah abruptly told the doll to “shut-up.” She promptly received a warning that that phrase was not welcome in our house. A few days later, however, I caught myself saying that exact phrase to my hyper-excited dog who was threatening to wake our sleeping baby. …Oops.
Like it or not, what we say and do is often absorbed and imitated by those within our influence. This is true not only for our children, but for anyone with whom we have a relationship – friends, family, coworkers, etc. Conversely, our language is often highly influenced by what we ourselves witness. Think about it for a moment. If we hear someone use a humorous phrase, we tend to remember it and use it ourselves sometime. If we frequently hear certain jargon at work, we tend to begin using that same jargon later. Even within the context of church, new believers quickly adopt “churchy” words that may not have been previously a part of their vocabulary.
The point is this: we are highly influenced by what we see and hear. While I do not believe that we are totally a “product of our environments” as some educators insist, all of us are naturally influenced by what goes on around us. And as with Micah, this can be a good thing, or it can be very, very negative.
Actually, there is an underlying principle that we all need to remember: we become that which we ingest. Perhaps the more common way to say this is the old maxim,
you are what you eat.
Even for Christ-followers, a steady diet of worldly words and ideas will eventually produce worldly thinking and language. Unfortunately, many of us mistakenly believe that an hour or two on Sunday can overcome a week’s worth of secular intake. We forget that, no matter our age, we are all like Micah in that we tend to repeat that which we see and hear. To use another metaphor, we are like sponges; only dripping out that which is soaked up.
Here’s why all this is important: If we claim to be Christ-followers, then we must be very diligent to “set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things.” (Col. 3:2) This begins with what we intake; what we read, what we watch, what music we listen to. After all, in order to truly set our minds on things above, we must actually know about the things above.
This does not mean that we withdraw from the world. Jesus even prayed that God would not remove us from the world, but that He would protect us from the evil one (John 17:15). He goes on to ask that we might be “sanctified by the Truth,” meaning scripture. In other words, we must be so saturated with Godly things, chiefly His Word, that the world loses its influence and power over us.
Being saturated in truth demands a steady diet of scripture. There are no shortcuts. If we claim to follow Christ, we must spend time regularly reading and studying His word. And the more we know scripture, the more our thoughts and language begins to reflect it. Ultimately, the more we know the Word, the more we grow to resemble Christ.
While nothing can take the place of scripture, I would also like to strongly encourage us to listen to music that reflects scriptural truth. Whether it’s hymns and praise choruses like we use on Sundays, or something completely different (did you know that there is such a thing as Christian country music? Or Christian rap?), our personal choice of music can greatly encourage us to keep our minds on “things above.” I would personally be happy to assist in suggesting Christian alternatives to any style of secular music.
If our ultimate goal on this side of eternity is to be as Christ-like as possible, then I pray that we might all do everything within our power to know and follow His commands. That includes being totally saturated with His truth, constantly thinking of “things above.” May we be disciplined in our intake so that we reflect only Christ.
Soli Deo Gloria
Tim Cotten