My Stupid Mouth

"My stupid mouth
Has got me in trouble
I said too much again"

John Mayer has a song entitled, "My Stupid Mouth" it is all about a date gone wrong, a time where John Mayer had the opportunity to speak beautiful and wonderful things about this woman, and instead, well opened his mouth and said something he shouldn't have...

We have all been there haven't we, the moment where the words escape our mouth and we almost try to reach out to pull them back, if only we could just take it back...

But we can't, we cannot take back the words of our mouth of the actions of our bodies...

The song ends like this:

"One more thing
Why is it my fault?
So maybe I try too hard
But it's all because of this desire
I just wanna be liked
I just wanna be funny
Looks like the jokes on me
So call me captain backfire


I'm never speaking up again
it only hurts me
I'd rather be a mystery
than she desert me


oh i'm never speaking up again
i'm never speaking up again
i'm never speaking up again
Starting now, starting now..."

I feel like, just like John Mayer in the song, when we are worried about us, what people think about us, how they view us, and not concerned with how they view our God or whether they can see Him at all through our lives, we tread into a dangerous place where our words become our own, and not our God's...

And then we reach this place where we never want to live for God again, or speak for him, we become terrified; afraid that we won't be accepted, or loved, or whatever...

But God is the lover of our souls, and the rescuer of our hearts... So today, open up your stupid mouth and allow a holy God to speak through you, who knows, you might not sound so stupid anymore...

Amor Vincit Omnia
Josh

Inspection by Fire

"Or, to put it another way, you are God's house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you'll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won't get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn't, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won't be torn out; you'll survive—but just barely..."
-I Corinthians 3:9-15 (MSG)

What are we building up in people... Ministers, have you ever asked yourself that question... What is the result of my labor, what is the product at the end...

I think we fall into the same trap, that either we are so wrapped up in who built what that we miss completely what God is doing and desires to do, or we are so caught up in the work of previous builders that we neglect the work that God has called us to at this time...

We have all been there, we look at the work of another pastor, student minister, children's minister, and we ask, why not my church, why not me...

So we try to build in the same way, we try to force another builder's blueprints on our projects, and so many times we are caught up in what the other person did that we are neglecting the blue prints, the plans, the visions that God has set before us...

Well, our work will be tested, and not by the scrutiny of men, but by the fire of God...

Right now, I have really been struggling with my call and place in the church, and I think it is because I a comparing myself, my building, my work with that of others, and with my own opinion...

But God sees in ways that we cannot, and his vision and "blue prints" for our work, are for the purpose ahead of us, and for the people he has placed in our lives...

So my encouragement today is realize that God has called you and set you apart, that his vision is for you and for those he has entrusted to you, so don't doubt that vision, but take hope and courage in the fact that God is faithful to complete the work He has begun in us... And lastly, God is the judge of our work, we cannot know or understand how God works, even in the moments when we felt as though we have failed, because God has shown his amazing ability to work through all people in all circumstances in all times...

Amor Vincit Omnia
Josh