The Accent of Christ

Living in a place that sees quite an influx of people from various states and even different countries is interesting. Not only do we see a variety of favorite sports teams, we also are privileged to hear various accents. People from the Deep South entertain us with their “you all’s”. That unmistakable East Coast accent is prevalent here in Southwest Florida. We can also tell the people who are from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and New York. Our friends from Canada, Australia, and England have different ways they pronounce certain words. They all speak the same language but with a different accent.

Have you ever thought about “the accent of Christ”. What kind of speech should we as His followers have? We are often able to identify people as being from a certain area by their accent. I wonder if those around us can hear the accent of Christ from our lives. What does the accent of Christ sound like? Believers should speak the language of Jesus. First of all, our lips should speak the gospel message. The pluralistic and confused world we live in needs to hear the truth of God. The good news of Jesus sacrificial death, glorious resurrection, and transforming salvation, needs to echo forth from our lips.

Those who have the accent of Christ should speak the language of kindness and forgiveness. Eph. 4:31,32 says: “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you”. Bitterness, wrath and anger are displayed all around us. Kindness, graciousness, and forgiveness can cut through the cruel meanness in our world.

The accent of Christ also means speaking the truth in love (Eph. 4:15). We do not back down from our committed stand on the truths of God’s Word. We are never ashamed to speak up for our biblical world view. Yet we deliver this truth with an accent of love.

People can usually tell where we’re from by our accent. The accent of Christ, is it in you?