SPEAKING WITH AUTHORITY

Last week my boss, a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army, sat in and took notes during one of my literature classes. I carefully considered every word before it exited my mouth, hoped that my cadets would do the same, and agonized over how best to maximize every second of the fifty-five minutes I had to teach my students the ins and outs of Thoreau’s Walden. Fortunately, I had prepared beforehand with more notes than were necessary, enough slides to answer unsolicited questions, and with plenty or prayer to carry me through the flames of a leader’s caring critiques. But you see that day I was prepared, though that was not always the case. So I thought, “What would my teaching be like if I prepared everyday as if I had to speak with my authorities looking over my shoulder?”

Jesus told His disciples, “Either make a tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit…. I tell you that on the Day of Judgment people will have to account for every careless word they speak. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt 12.33-37). Every word we utter is under the watchful eye of He to whom we will give account. What if I lived every day carefully considering the words that exit my mouth and taught those who listen to me to do the same? What if I agonized over how best to spend every minute of my life under the caring gaze of a judging God? What if I prepared myself to speak with authority as if my every word depended upon it?

“Be conscientious about yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1Tim 4.16). Are you listening to what you are saying? Our God is…