MEANEST MEMBER IN THE CHURCH

MEANEST MEMBER IN THE CHURCH

The voice over the phone said, “Hi Jerri. I want you to listen. Don’t say anything…just listen.” I asked who was calling, but no answer. All of a sudden I heard a high shrill voice. “Wheee…wheee…” The voice sounded something like the Geico pig roaring down the zip line in a recent witty commercial.

I was totally confused. Then the voice came back again. “Did you hear yourself?” What?

“Who is this?” I asked again. As it turned out, the call was from a neighbor, the voice (sounding like the Geico piggy) was definitely mine.

The mystery was solved when I was reminded by my neighbor that I had tried to place a call to his mother at his home, and instead of disconnecting the line after the call, it had remained open and consequently my voice was recorded.

You’re probably wondering by now what I could have possibly been doing to sound like the Geico piggy! Well, it turns out that I had two of our grandchildren with me in our golf cart going for a little joy ride.


While we were in our back forty going up and down hills I was making the appropriate ‘Granny sounds’ to make the kids feel like they were really flying. Ha! I sure got busted! Needless to say, I was sure glad I hadn’t said anything ugly or inappropriate, especially since I was being recorded.

My neighbor and I got a real good belly laugh out of that one, but when I hung up after talking with him I couldn’t help but think about how ALL our words ARE being recorded.

In the Bible Jesus says, “Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment.” (Matthew 12:36) Guess that might be the reason Thumper’s mother said, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.”


Proverbs puts it like this: “The heart of the righteous studieth to answer: but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.” (15:28) Even nature itself teaches us that we should listen twice as much as we speak, why else would God have given us two ears and one mouth?

James, the earthly step-brother of our Lord admonished us to be “…quick to listen and slow to speak ...” (James 1:19) Good, sound advice even after 2,000 years.

Everyone knows who the meanest member of the _______ church is. No, it’s not Sister SharpTongue or Brother BlowHard. The meanest member of YOUR church and MY church is the TONGUE!

The third chapter of James gives an accurate description of what this mean member is capable of doing. This member, the tongue, can set on fire a world of evil among other members of the church.


Mr. Tongue can praise God one minute and curse men the next. Even a horse can be made to obey with a small bit in his mouth, but the tongue, no man can tame. James also said that a small rudder can control a whole ship, but seemingly, no one can contain Mr. Tongue. He does his own thing, whenever and wherever he pleases.

You’ve had a bad day if Ms. Tongue ever gets a hold on you. She will tear you up one side, and down the other, all the while pretending to ask prayer for you to that inner circle of fellow church members.

Beware the person who talks to you about someone else. You can count on them for one thing and one thing only. They will soon be talking about you to someone and it won’t be flattering.


The key is to make a determination that you will not listen to Mr. or Ms. Tongue when they begin talking about others. Instead, walk away or hang up the phone.

One day a person came up to me in a local store and started talking about someone (and it wasn’t nice). I just looked at them and said, “That’s not true.” Then turned on my heel and walked away. That person has never approached me about anyone else. No, we’re not good friends now, although we used to be. I don’t need friends like that and neither do you!

Our words are being recorded in heaven by God Almighty. They will be brought up at the final judgment where we will give an accounting. Let’s live in the light of eternity.