Dignified and Faithful In ALL Things!

2/1/2009

by Kay DeKalb Smith

I Timothy 3:1 -16:  “Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.”

Oh! The thought of me, a Deacon’s wife, and Comedian being dignified…causes me to chuckle!  Me, the woman who wore a poppy seed between her teeth to a meeting at church. Me, the one singing at a banquet who had a grain of rice fly out of my mouth, hitting a man on the front row! Me, the Mom who wore her dress backward to a Program!  Dignified?  That’s a hard one!
  
What about the next part, “not malicious gossips”…ouch!  My mouth has gotten me in trouble more than once.  It has not only gotten me in trouble onstage but in personal situations as well.  For instance, the time I felt lead to pray for the girl in Bible Class whose beautiful clothes caused me to covet.  (I thought, “If God would only convict her of her sin.”)  So, I passed along my “prayer request” to other concerned “prayer warriors” from the class, who echoed my covetous sentiment toward the “Girl in GIVENCHY”.  When I finally shut my mouth and started to pray, God quickly revealed that the sin problem belonged to me, not the “Girl in GAP”.  God showed me that I must go to the offended “Talbot’s Token” and confess my sin.  I did confess to her (a very humbling event in my life), and “GUESS” what?  She forgave me and shifted my attention from GITANO to GRACE.  Tongue control is an important offense/defense for a Child of God.
               
We also need to be prayerful and careful when criticizing our fellow comedians through the website and board postings.  Let’s take the high road…if we have an offense, go to the one who is the offender and bare our “grievance”…not chat to one another .  Hey—that sounds somewhat Biblical, doesn’t it?  Now, that would be “dignified”!
           
“Temperate and faithful in all things”…that is the prayer of my heart.  Lord Jesus, when I seek to be clothed in your temperance, dress me in a “dignified” spirit.  And when I seek your face…convict me of my tongue, making me, “faithful in all things”.  Give me the courage to pray before I speak and the willingness to respond in faithfulness.