Messy Room, Messier Words
Back when I had teenage sons—which is now many years ago!—I went into one of their rooms one night to say hello and discuss some scheduling arrangements that needed to be made for the weekend.
I knocked on his door, walked into his room, and encountered a scene of total destruction! I don’t know how he found his clothes (I think all of them were on the floor at the time) or how he found his bed to sleep (a corner of it stuck out from under the rubble).
Everywhere I looked I saw textbooks, shoes, magazines, CDs, skateboard parts, and a host of other unrecognizable objects. My anger and frustration were immediate. He greeted me warmly, and I let it fly!
I forgot all about saying hello or asking him about his day. Instead, I went into a tirade on the condition of his room and how I was sure that it mirrored the condition of his life (which was not true).
I angrily reminded him of how hard I work to provide him with the things he had strewn everywhere. I asked him what it would be like if his mother and I kept the whole house that way. I lectured on and asked questions—questions I didn’t give him any time to answer because they weren’t really questions. I was just venting.
I told him I didn’t know how he could stand being in that room the way it was, but I knew I couldn’t. I told him that it better be cleaned up quickly, and I left.
I’m sure my son was so grateful that God had given him Paul Tripp as his father that evening…
I walked down the hallway and the convicting grace of the Holy Spirit hit me like a ton of bricks. I knew that what I had done was wrong. This encounter would not produce positive changes in my son, and I knew that God was not pleased. I prayed for forgiveness, got myself together, and went back in to talk to my son the right way.
Yes, the room was a mess, it evidenced poor stewardship on my son’s part, and he needed someone to confront him with these issues of the heart. As his father, God placed me in a position to lovingly reveal and confront that.
But I was called to do so in an ambassadorial way (2 Corinthians 5:20).
We have been called to represent the King with our words in a way that incarnates him. To incarnate means to embody in human form, to personify. This is a position of majestic honor given to unworthy sinners.
If we could understand the wonder of it all, we would be amazed that we could do or say anything that could picture God’s glory! But this is just what God has chosen us to do. We are his hands, his eyes, his ears, and his mouths. We put flesh and blood to who he is and what he wants for those around us. We are called to make his character and will seen, heard, and known.
When we live and speak incarnationally, we mirror the work Christ did on earth: He came to make the Father known. While he was here, Jesus said that the works he did and the words he spoke were not his own but came from his Father (John 14:5–14).
In the same way that Christ revealed the Father, we are called to reveal Christ. We are called to incarnate Jesus.
This was my job description the night I went into my son’s room, but I had lost all sense of my calling. I was there full of my own interest, and my words had no incarnational agenda at all.
May we daily ask the Lord for help with our words, rooted in a heart that has an agenda higher and holier than our own purposes and desires.
P.S. If you want to read more about incarnating Christ with your words, check out one of my oldest books, War of Words. It has been given a newly designed hardback cover with new reflection and discussion questions inside. You can get a preview at PaulTripp.com/Words.
A Prayer for Today: God, I recognize that I need help with my words. I have been called to represent you to others around me (my family, friends, acquaintances, etc.) in a way that personifies you, and I haven’t always done the best job of that. Lord, would you help me to grow in this and become more and more like the kind of person who represents you well to others around me? In my own power, it’s impossible for me to continually live this way, but with you, all things are possible. May I continually yield to you and see the impossible become possible. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Discussion Prompt for Children
1. Why do you think the way we use our words matters so much to God and others?
2. What do you think it means to represent God?
3. In what ways do the words of a Christian represent God to other people around them? Why does that make how we use our words so important?
Reflection Questions
1. How have you seen your words have a destructive power in the lives of other people? How have you seen them have a life-giving effect on others?
2. What do you think it means to be an ambassador for Christ? In what ways have you seen God use you as his ambassador in the lives of others around you? What has that experience been like for you?
3. How have you seen God use the words of other people to represent himself and bring life into situations? How might God be calling you to be his representative to others through your words? How often would you say you ask God for help with the way you use your words? What could your relationships develop into if you were to live in increasing submission to God while asking him to mold and shape the way you use your words?
4. Take some time to pray right now and ask God to help you be a life-giving representation of him to others in your circle of influence, specifically with how you use your words.