NEW POLLUTION
Waiting to catch him in something he might say. – Luke 11:54
One presidential candidate who rides on the “preserve the nature” platform in the campaign trail declared his total war against pollution. Unknown to him, he is a major contributor to another form of devastating pollution: verbal pollution.
One popular Christian author writes, “The verbal pollution passed around by grumblers, complainers, criticizers and pessimists are poison that creates an atmosphere of wholesale negativism where nothing but the bad side of everything is emphasized.”
A group of Christian friends became concerned about this form of pollution and their personal part in it. So they made a pact to avoid critical words for a whole week. They were surprised to find how little they spoke! They learned that they needed to overhaul their entire heart-to-mouth system. Verbal pollutant carriers don’t go too far in the direction of a joy-filled life.
The Pharisees and their cohorts caught Jesus because He was saying “different” things — stuff that was beautiful, joyful and true. Like Him, will I, too, get caught because of my “different” proclamations or will the world not notice me since what I say is strikingly similar to theirs?Jon Escoto (faithatworkjon@ gmail.com)
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REFLECTION:
If you record what you say the entire day, how much of it brings life to the people you love and serve, and how much verbal pollution do you contribute to the environment?
Purify my heart and fill it with Your joy, Lord, for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
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