What Does the Christian Say?

Do you remember about ten years ago when a song called “What Does the Fox Say?” went viral? It’s a weird little music video all about how the average person really doesn’t know what kind of sounds a fox makes. When you’re reading a picture book to your baby, you tell her that the cat says meow and the doggie says ruff, but what do you do when you get to the picture of the fox? It really is a dilemma.

My nephew Pearson was about eight years old at the time, and he thought this video was hilarious. He even went dressed as a fox for Halloween, wearing a sign that said, “Ask me what I say.” Apparently, people asked him all night and he made a bunch of the funny noises from the song.

Looking back on that big green sign that Pearson wore at Halloween, I imagined what would happen if Christians wore signs like that around. What if we went to work, to Target, to the car wash, to the movies wearing a sign that said, “I’m a Christian! Ask me what I say!”

Do you think it would change the daily message that we send to the world? Do you think if we labeled ourselves and invited people to look to us as examples of how Christians talk that it would affect the way we present ourselves? I do.

But here’s the thing: We don’t have to wear a label around. If we are Christians, people are already watching us to see how we talk. They’re looking at us to see what kinds of things matter to us, what fills our minds and our hearts. They’re listening to try and hear with their own ears what a life changed by Jesus Christ sounds like.

What kind of messages are we sending? That believing in Jesus makes us over-sensitive? That following God makes us cranky and hard to deal with? That Christians are complainers? That our faith makes no difference in the way we treat others or in the way we deal with hardship?

We must be careful how we talk online, in person, and in attitudes and actions. What we say and do should be softened with love, tempered with grace, and given to the world as a gift from God. Also, let’s not forget that sometimes Christians remain silent when we shouldn’t. God gives us opportunities to speak up for the weak and oppressed. Let’s not squander those chances.

When we have trouble using our words to bring glory to God, we can picture our big green sign, and we can remember the reality that our words matter, to the here and now and to eternity.

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29