Wise words

A young couple was doing pre-marriage counseling with their pastor prior to the wedding. During the final session, the bride-to-be confided to the pastor that she was extremely nervous about the big day and had been suffering from anxiety attacks for weeks.

The pastor, with great concern for the girl, decided that he would come up with a special verse of Scripture to use during the wedding sermon as a way to comfort and encourage her.

After hours of study, he finally found the perfect verse! “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear . . .” (1 Jn 4:18).

On the day of the wedding, in a moment of inspiration, the pastor asked the Best Man if he would be willing to stand up and read this verse aloud to those in attendance before he preached it. The best man agreed and borrowed a Bible to look up the passage.

Unfortunately, he didn’t realize that there is a difference between the first letter of John (where the verse is found) and the Gospel of John (located a little earlier in the Bible). When the time came for the sermon to be delivered, the pastor explained, “Today I’ve picked a special passage of Scripture that directly applies to this young couple. I’m confident that every person here who knows the bride will understand why I’ve chosen this particular verse.”

Imagine everyone’s surprise when the best man stepped to the center of the stage, cleared his throat and proudly read John 4:18 – “Behold, you have five husbands and the one that you now have is not your husband.”

Have you ever embarrassed yourself to the point where you wish you could crawl into a hole and disappear?

It seems like I’m constantly saying things that should never have been allowed past the “filter” in my mind! How do I get myself into these situations? Why do words that sound so smart and funny inside my mind sound so hopelessly foolish when they come out of my mouth?

I think this week I will make more of an effort to have my brain lead and my mouth follow. I think I’ll try a little harder to consider the consequences of my words BEFORE I speak them. I realize that I’ll never be able to eliminate foolish and embarrassing moments from my life, but I can sure try! As Abraham Lincoln once famously said, “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt!”

Justin Ford is pastor of Oakdale Baptist Church, which is located in Eastern Oklahoma County.