Lately I've learned the power of the spoken word.
I live in a place where it seems that gossip is all people care about. I know this is true for the whole world--just look at the magazine rack when checking out at the local grocery store. It's all about "Britney's in rehab again", "Paris only got arrested four times last month", "Lindsey found in a dark alley wearing a toga", and "Tom impregnated Kate with an alien through the power of scientology". Ok, so the last one may be a bit of an embellishment, but I wouldn't put it past them. I even have a friend who at his work they have "fantasy US weekly" that is managed just like a fantasy football league, where each person gets a certain amount of points for guessing who is on the cover and who gets the spotlight stories. A bit over the top for those who get really into it.
My point with all this said is that our culture is obsessed with the actions of other people, especially when the actions have no direct effect on the persons not involved. Lack of involvement makes it better! To seperate oneself and be able to say, "wow, i'm glad my life isn't that crappy" and then move one with their day apathetically is the best case senario!
This is bad.
What makes this worse is that we cannot escape the "personal interest" people take in others. It is not something that the common folk only look into Hollywood for, it happens everywhere.
I had facebook for a while, and it was pretty fun to have. I was able to catch up with old friends, see different people that I hadn't seen in ages from places I had lived, and post funny things on my friends "walls". I found that after a while though that facebook was becoming big brother. At any point, I could see my friends last actions when they were online, and it would even tell me when they were sitting at their computer. A bit out of hand if you ask me. Within an instant you can know who's dating who, when people break up, and other little things that only reveal to the heart gossip, not a cause for deep concern. (I don't want to judge those who use facebook still, I just am stating for myself it got out of hand).
I am ashamed of how many times I have indulged myself in what I shall call this "impersonal interest". When speaking about people, it is often to know the dirt. I feel like Aunt Bea and Miss Clara gossiping with the ladies at the Mayberry drug store. This "impersonal interest" has also vexed the campus I live on. It isn't long before people have nothing more insightful to ask than to immediately move on to talking about other people. It is strange how this can come along with good intentions as well. For instance:
"man you really got to pray for Jack and Audrey"
"oh gosh what happened?"
"wellllllll, i really shouldn't go into it but..."
And so forth.
Crazy how sin can intrude on the most innocent of things! How can I change my "impersonal interest" to authentic "personal interest"?
The scriptures have shed some light on this thing we as a culture struggle with so much. It seems that the audience of the epistle writers dealt with the same issues. James gets kinda harsh speaking about the tongue: "The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell" (3:6). Woah. Another way the scriptures reveal to us what we are really made of. It is another way of seeing how hurtful our words can be. They have the potential to build high, but also to bury deep.
I guess the only way to live within the truth of this text is to simply shut up. When we decide to listen and engage rather than long hear and speak for fulfullment, we just might be able to take "personal interest". I'm gonna try to do so, and there's a long road ahead. Anyone wanna go with me? We might learn something about each other.
