http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjftaeEqjsQ
Showing posts with label conversation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conversation. Show all posts
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Conversation and Behavior
The power of words. If we don't match our words with our actions, we find ourselves in great trouble; and not just with our critics who are quick to shout hypocrite.
Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians that we must conduct ourselves in a way worthy of our Faith. "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel."
In the Authorized Version that first line is, "Let your conversation be as it be becometh the gospel of Christ." The word from the Latin, 'conversari' is more than conversation. We think of conversation as talking. 'Conversari' means 'to conduct oneself'. The word that Paul used even goes beyond that. The word that he would usually use, 'peripatein', translates "to walk about". The word he uses is 'politeuesthai', meaning "to be a citizen". In his context, citizens of Rome had to behave in a prescribed way that was worthy of being a Roman citizen, no matter where you lived in the Roman empire. What he wants us to do then, as Christians, is to act in a way always befitting a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
If you proclaim yourself a Christian, you must in all ways, at all times, act and talk in a way that is in line with scripture. If people know you are of this Faith, you are being closely watched, by both fellow believers and critics.
Even in your personal life you must do this. In Mark, Jesus talks about a man leaving his home, and gives authority to his servants to mind the house. We can act correctly and do all the things necessary to keep the house in order, or let things slide, thinking that the master of the house will probably not return until a certain time and date, and not act properly until then. Jesus says, "Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming- in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning- lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping".
We must watch. Watch our own behavior, our own thoughts, and watch for Him.
Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the Philippians that we must conduct ourselves in a way worthy of our Faith. "Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel."
In the Authorized Version that first line is, "Let your conversation be as it be becometh the gospel of Christ." The word from the Latin, 'conversari' is more than conversation. We think of conversation as talking. 'Conversari' means 'to conduct oneself'. The word that Paul used even goes beyond that. The word that he would usually use, 'peripatein', translates "to walk about". The word he uses is 'politeuesthai', meaning "to be a citizen". In his context, citizens of Rome had to behave in a prescribed way that was worthy of being a Roman citizen, no matter where you lived in the Roman empire. What he wants us to do then, as Christians, is to act in a way always befitting a citizen of the Kingdom of God.
If you proclaim yourself a Christian, you must in all ways, at all times, act and talk in a way that is in line with scripture. If people know you are of this Faith, you are being closely watched, by both fellow believers and critics.
Even in your personal life you must do this. In Mark, Jesus talks about a man leaving his home, and gives authority to his servants to mind the house. We can act correctly and do all the things necessary to keep the house in order, or let things slide, thinking that the master of the house will probably not return until a certain time and date, and not act properly until then. Jesus says, "Watch therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming- in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning- lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping".
We must watch. Watch our own behavior, our own thoughts, and watch for Him.
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