LIVING FOR GOD ™
"That’s Rude"
By Calvin and Lisa Wulf
"Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." Colossians 4:6 (NIV)
"I don't get it," he muses as he clicks off the TV. "Why is everyone in these sit-coms so rude? Put-downs seem to pass for humor these days."
"I know," she responds. "Actually, it’s the kids on the shows that bother me. They say such disrespectful things and the parents just ignore it and end up looking like buffoons."
"Yeah, I know. Good thing it's only a TV show."
Or is it? Some people call it sassy and hip. Others call it rude. We see bad-mannered children on television and we meet pushy people waiting for the cashier. Ask anyone who works in a restaurant and they'll tell you even Christians can be snooty. We chop up people like we cut down trees.
We've learned to tolerate rudeness because it's easy to look the other way. Sometimes we even think it's funny. Maybe that’s because humor is often based on a put-down.
But have people become objects of no value because of our tolerance?
What we see in the movies and on TV tends to desensitize us so we not only accept rudeness but we're also quick to act it out. But when the tables are turned and we’re the target of someone else’s scorn, it can cut us to the heart.
Could it be that we have a stewardship responsibility to build people up rather than cut them down? Instead of diminishing others, we can show them God's blessing instead.
How then do you keep your conversation full of grace? Think on these things:
· How's your attitude? Are you looking the other way and condoning rudeness?
· How's your life? Do hurtful remarks somehow escape from your mouth?
· How's your faith? Don't give disrespect a space in your heart.
It's time to stop laughing at sitcom rudeness. After all, today's humor could be tomorrow's heartache. So let's put away our chainsaws. Rather than hacking people up we could plant a forest of blessings instead.
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Copyright 2009 Calvin R. Wulf and Lisa Are Wulf
