Foot-in-Mouth Disease (Part 2)

Hearing this, a man sitting at the table with Jesus exclaimed, "What a privilege it would be to have a share in the Kingdom of God!" Jesus replied with this illustration: "A man prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When all was ready, he sent his servant around to notify the guests that it was time for them to come. But they all began making excuses. One said he had just bought a field and wanted to inspect it, so he asked to be excused. Another said he had just bought five pair of oxen and wanted to try them out. Another had just been married, so he said he couldn't come. "The servant returned and told his master what they had said. His master was angry and said, 'Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the city and invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.' After the servant had done this, he reported, 'There is still room for more.' So his master said, 'Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. For none of those I invited first will get even the smallest taste of what I had prepared for them.'" (Luke 14:15-24, NLV).

Yesterday we saw that the first step toward curing our “foot-in-mouth” disease was to take control of our attitude. Today, we will see that the second insight for mending a situation we created by putting our foot in our mouth is to admit our wrongdoing. This is just another way of saying we do not make excuses for our behavior.

Remember the experience of Peter’s denial of Jesus in the courtyard after His arrest. Peter didn’t merely slink away into the night, he adamantly denied any knowledge or relationship of Jesus. And, this came after Jesus warned him it was likely to happen. Peter’s response to Jesus’ caution was that he would never do such a thing. He would rather die than leave Jesus! Well, we know what happened. Before we get too hard on Peter though remember the rest of the story. While we have no record in scripture of Peter actually apologizing to Christ for this episode of denial, we don’t find him trying to justify his denial either. We do find that when he thought about what he had said and done, he wept (Cf. Mark 14:72). This is no doubt an indication that he felt bad about himself and what he had done. He felt guilty for denying Christ and cursing. He wasn’t going to try to justify his actions. This is the second key principle to curing our own “foot-in-mouth” disease.

In his book with Ken Blanchard, "Everyone’s A Coach", Don Shula tells of losing his temper near an open microphone during a televised game with the Los Angeles Rams. Millions of viewers were surprised and shocked by Shula’s explicit profanity. Letters soon arrived from all over the country, voicing the disappointment of many that had respected the coach for his integrity. Shula could have given excuses, but he didn’t. Everyone who included a return address received a personal apology. He closed each letter by stating, "I value your respect and will do my best to earn it again."

There are two ways to gain respect. One is to act nobly. The other is when you fail to do so, to make no excuses. When you try to justify your foot in mouth disease you only tend to make matters worse. Admitting we are wrong is always difficult, but it is the doorway to freedom. Tomorrow we’ll see how to step through that door.