First they’re sour, then they’re sweet.
Perhaps you can recall that phrase as the tagline to Sour Patch Kids. Those qualities may be highly prized in a candy, but who wants to be recognized for a sour then sugary-sweet spirit?
As Christians, we are called to “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23). And what is more revealing of the condition of our hearts than the words that we speak?
So often we speak critical, harsh words but cover it with insincere compliments and gestures. God says there cannot be both bitterness and kindness, life and death emerging from our hearts and rolling off of our tongue. We are not called to be two-faced Christians.
Let me ask you, are you following the model of the Sour Patch spirit or the Holy Spirit?
When following the Sour Patch model, criticism is second-nature and encouragement is a sorry afterthought. But when following the Holy Spirit, the duplicity present in the Sour Patch spirit is gone. Though naturally there will be times of faltering, our critical nature is replaced by one of contentment.
How can we expect to live a victorious, sanctified life if we are constantly spewing forth poison—a harsh word, a judgmental spirit, an ungrateful attitude. We cannot. We must release our critical spirit if we ever hope to have peace.
The thing is, overcoming a critical spirit is not about self-will or determination to be better. A critical spirit can only be overcome by a heart transformation with the Holy Spirit at the center. We all struggle with putting God over self. However, God is the giver of living water.
Drinking from His well brings life.
Relationship with Him satisfies us. We need no longer put others down to raise us up because we are now sons and daughters of the King. We need no longer weakly attempt to right those we have wronged because He infuses us with His strength to do what is right. Furthermore, we don’t have to live as hypocrites.
So let us drink from His well of living water. He is the remedy for our two-faced nature. If we allow the Holy Spirit to take control, He can curtail the stream of bitterness. We don’t have to live as Sour Patch Christians when we can live in victory.
“With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.”
James 3: 9-12
