(THIS STORY IS FROM 10 YEARS AGO WHEN ARCHIE WAS STILL A PUPPY. I SURE DO MISS HIM!)
I let my dog, Archie, sit in my lap for a couple of minutes yesterday. He hasn’t done that in months since he doesn’t really “fit” in my lap anymore now that he’s 9 months old. He was enjoying the attention I was giving him so he reached up and gave me a big sloppy kiss on my mouth when I wasn’t expecting it. Part of me said “Yuck!” while the other part of me enjoyed the tender moment. But, all that changed this morning when I caught him eating cat poo in the backyard. It will be a LONG time before he gets near my mouth again!
Now, I will confess that I don’t have the “cleanest” mouth on this planet. There are times that I’ve let curse words slip out during a moment of frustration or anger. I’m ashamed of myself when that happens and I try to quickly ask God for forgiveness when it does happen. Why? Because this is the same mouth that I BLESS God with. It just doesn’t seem right to let cursing and swearing come from our mouths one moment, then words of praise and adoration to God come out the next moment. I wonder, when we do that, if God has the same reaction that I had when I saw my dog eating cat poo?
There is a familiar line that most of us have heard before upon hearing someone curse and swear….”Do you kiss your mother with that mouth?” I ask my Christian brothers and sisters a siimilar question … ”Do you praise your God with that mouth?”
James 3:10
Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.
