"Camera one, can you zoom in a little tighter?" the technical director asks over the headsets.
What follows on the screen is something less than smooth. The image quickly lurches forward and the audience is treated to a very close up view of the speaker's nose and mouth.
The director responds with a frantic “Zoom Out! Zoom Out! Oh__________!” What fills in the blank is less than holy and we won't dignify it by spelling it out, but you can imagine. Maybe you've recently been on one side of this scenario. I'm sure that we can all agree that this has no place in church tech.
Now, I know how the environment can be. I worked in broadcast television for many years and, under stressful conditions, many things will come out of a person's mouth—especially if that someone is not a Christian. It's easy to let actions and attitudes from our professional life creep into our church life.
So how can we correct this habit? We only need to look to Jesus for the source of our words.
James says it this way:
For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. - James 3:7-8
If you stop reading right there, you may think that James is giving us a free pass. You may have even used this as an excuse, “I'm sorry, but, well, ‘no man can tame the tongue.'” Whenever you're studying scripture, though, you need to keep reading. You always need to put a verse into proper context. You'll find here that James is not giving us an excuse for bad language:
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so. - James 3:10
One moment you're singing along with the worship team, and the next you're using some colorful language to berate your student intern. James would say it shouldn't be that way.
But suppose you don't use four-letter words? What else is coming out of your mouth? The word that James uses here for “cursing” isn't necessarily what we would call curse words. The word is actually like “calling down” God's wrath.
Again, you might think that you're not guilty of that, either. But if you're not lifting someone up with your words and spending a lot of time tearing other people down, you're just as guilty. You see, insulting people and tearing them down has no place among God's people either. Do you yell and scream in times of stress? James would still tell us this “ought not to be so.”
Consider also the words of the apostle, Paul:
Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. - Ephesians 4:29
Does any of this sting a little bit? Think of the last time you said something that you wish you hadn't. Think of the last time you “went off' on someone. James and Paul would tell us that this has no place in the church. It doesn't matter if it's in the tech booth or the pulpit.
So how can we correct this habit? We only need to look to Jesus for the source of our words. He would tell us that this is the overflow of our heart.
The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. - Luke 6:45
Jesus would tell us that what is coming out of our mouth in times of stress is actually what is in our heart. The good news is that Jesus is the one who changes the heart. All we need to do is confess and ask Him for the help to change. Then we need to stop filling our heart with the negative. We need to fill it with God's presence and His Word, then you will see a change in what's coming out.
I would challenge you today to really think about what's coming out of your mouth. You cannot excuse it away by telling yourself, “That's just my personality,” or “That's just the environment.” Think of James who says “these things ought not to be so.”
