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Foot In Mouth Disease

by Jerry Ousley  
2/02/2008 / Christian Living

There is a real disease that is commonly called "Foot AND Mouth Disease." I am in no way making fun of that terrible disease but it occurred to me that there is another disease that doesn't really affect the physical body, instead affecting the recesses of the mind. I appropriately call it "Foot IN Mouth Disease." We all have it to a degree. Some of us have a worse case of it than others. Let me illustrate. I've mentioned this before but there was a time when we were dating that Deb and I went out to dinner one evening. Back then we thought we were doing something very special if we had the money to eat at McDonalds. This time we chose the A&W restaurant. We sat down and began looking over the menu to pick out what we wanted. I had made my selection and turned to Deb. What I meant to say was "What would you like honey?" What came from my mouth was "Do you want anything?" Duh! We were in a restaurant to eat. I'm sure her intention wasn't to sit there and watch me consume my food like a big old hog while she ate nothing. I knew that and I wanted to enjoy a meal with her. She was of course offended by my words and responded with, "No! I don't want anything!" She was angry and I could tell, but I couldn't figure out why. Like a dummy I reasoned that maybe she really didn't want anything so I ate my food while the tension grew.

Afterwards when I confronted her and she finally let me know what the problem was I immediately apologized; but it was hard for her to hear me while I had my desert of feet and toes. I've chewed on my feet so many times that they are beginning to prune up. Maybe it would be easier to just stick them in my mouth in the morning and get it over with. There have been times I've considered rubbing them down with honey or chocolate syrup in the morning to improve their taste.

Really, I have gotten better at keeping my feet out of my mouth as the years have progressed but every once in a while I let my guard down and right back in my mouth they go. It's a constant battle to be aware of what we say verses what we mean and how it sounds to others.

But there's another version of this "Foot in Mouth Disease" that is much worse than the one I've confessed to. It has to do with our spiritual condition. How often have I heard the words "I don't need to do it that way; God and I have an understanding and everything's okay." Or, "That's not the way my parents taught me so it must not be true." Or how about, "God knows my heart and He's good with it." One more classic is, "I've got to make some changes in my life before I come to God." These and a host of others are really only excuses to bail us out of situations that require us to make a commitment to God and His Word.

Now I know that we are told in Philippians 2:12 to work out our own salvation. Many have taken this partial verse to mean that they can serve God any way they want to and be okay. Most of the time we forget to quote the rest of that verse. Here it is in its entirety: "Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." It is linked with being obedient whether the pastor is present or not and doing it with great caution. The only way we can do that is by knowing what God says in the Bible and being obedient to that. When we bypass this process then we are suffering from the worse case of "Foot in Mouth Disease." We do have the right to be obedient to God as He has directed us. But know this: God will not direct us contrary to what His Word says. When we insist on a relationship with our Heavenly Father aside from His Word (not what everyone else is saying) then we are spiritually walking around with our toes hanging from our mouths. You can decide for yourself but I look ugly enough as it is.

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of "Soul Challenge", "Soul Journey", "Ordeal", "The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional" and his first novel "The Shoe Tree." Newer books include "Finality" and "Dividing God's Church." Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge

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