What Does the Christian Say?

I’m sure by now all of you have seen the viral YouTube video called “What Does the Fox Say?” (Watch it here.)  It’s a funny, 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.  (Another tough one is the bunny.  I always just say boing, boing.)

I guess the question will live on, because somehow I never did just Google it to try to find out what a fox actually says.  And the huge hole will remain in my book-reading repertoire.  Sorry, kids.

My nephew Pearson adores this video and thinks it’s 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.  What a cutie.

When I saw that big green sign on Pearson 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, guess what?  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?  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, in light of the 41st anniversary of the horrible Roe v. Wade decision, that sometimes Christians remain silent when we shouldn’t.  God gives us opportunities to speak up for the weak.  Let’s not squander those chances.

So, 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.

As for that sneaky fox, maybe one of these days I’ll try and figure out what he actually says.  In the meantime, I’ll continue my strategy of casually skipping the fox page in the picture books.  If Emerald ever asks about it, thank goodness Pearson is only a phone call away.