The Thumper Rule

Posted by Jim Hurtsellers on Mar 16, 2011 in Daily Bread | 1 comment

I remember watching a DVD of Disney’s classic film Bambi with my two oldest boys. (Of course they were quite young at the time and actually thought their father had some small bit of knowledge, so they would ask questions. Lots of questions.) Anyway, back to Bambi…There is a scene in the movie where Thumper (a rabbit) has just said something not so nice. He is reminded that there is a rule that he is supposed to follow when he speaks. Thumper, reluctantly recites this rule which goes something like this: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say nothing at all.”

I remember my son Aaron asking me about what Thumper said. What a great opportunity to teach my boys about speaking words of truth and kindness; so I did. Pausing the movie, I spent the next couple of minutes explaining how this was a pretty good rule for everyone to follow and how we would all be so much better off if we did what Thumper had suggested; and how we should really go out of our way to look for good things to say to other people. After my lecture, and feeling like I was Ward Cleaver wise. (If you don’t know who he was, this devotional is probably missing the target demographics, and someone needed to do a better job of research and then informing me of the results before they let me write it!) I asked my boys what they thought about what I had just said to them? After a moment or two of silence, my son Aaron said, ” I think I’d rather just say nothing.”

Thumper rule? Well maybe not, but the Apostle Paul did have some good advice for all of us in today’s scripture verse… Not only does he tell us what not to say, but he contrasts the negative with the positive and instructs us what our speech ought to be doing. Paul says that everything we say should be good, and be used in a way that encourages other people, ministering to them with our words. This is very difficult to do. Our words must be chosen with the intent that they are to do good for the one that hears them. The good in the words requires us to remove our selfishness motives from what we say and let our words reflect who we are in Christ. In fact, it is only by being in Christ that what we say can be good. We must surrender our lives over to Him and let everything about us be guided by the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit. When we do that, all of our thoughts, our words, and deeds are good!

Father,
Help me today to surrender my life over to you. Holy Spirit, speak through me today and let my words be good, kind, and encouraging to everyone. Do this for your names sake, and for your glory. Thank you Lord.
Amen