Watch Your Mouth!

My son, Robbie and I made the trip to Bloomington, Indiana to watch Ohio State take on the Hoosiers of Indiana Saturday night. Robbie and I had a great weekend together which was helped by the fact that the Buckeyes played pretty well and won easily, 33-14.

During the game we sat in front of perhaps, the most obnoxious Ohio State fan in the world (coincidentally, he is the one who took the above picture). He was not just obnoxious, but he was also LOUD...a bad combination. He would yelled insults at Indiana fans. He yelled at Ohio State players when they didn't do what he hoped they would do. He yelled at the referees. When the Indiana cheerleaders came into the stands to cheer for their team, he even yelled at and booed them.

Not only was this guy annoying to me and others around us, I was actually embarrassed. He was giving all of the IU fans around us a very bad opinion of Ohio State fans. In my experience, I believe most Ohio State fans to be civil and classy people. However, there are a small percentage like this guy who taint the perception of others. Too bad.

The same is true of us as Christ followers. We are all on the same team. We must guard ourselves so that we don't act like the fan who was sitting behind me, otherwise others' perception of Christianity might take a hit.

But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Colossians 3:8-10