Many Christian churches celebrated Pentecost last Sunday, commemorating the day the Holy Spirit was poured out on Christ’s disciples as recorded in the Book of Acts, chapter 2: On the day of Pentecost all the Lord’s followers were together in one place. ² Suddenly there was a noise from heaven like the sound of a mighty wind! It filled the house where they were meeting. ³ Then they saw what looked like fiery tongues moving in all directions, and a tongue came and settled on each person there. ⁴ The Holy Spirit took control of everyone, and they began speaking whatever languages the Spirit let them speak.

There were Jews from many different countries who spoke a variety of languages and all understood the disciples in their own tongue.

As a result of this miraculous event, there is disagreement among the various Christian denominations as to how we are to understand the spiritual gift of tongues. While I’m not comfortable with those who aver that one must speak in tongues in order to validate their salvation, I agree that the words we speak can certainly be an indication of the state of our sanctification. As it says in James, chapter three, if you can control your tongue, you are mature and able to control your whole body.

Mature, spirit-filled Christians demonstrate maturity by controlling what they say and how they say it. Today, that also includes what we share on social media; especially how we comment on posts with which we may disagree, either politically or theologically.

Christians may continue to disagree about the meaning and necessity of speaking in tongues, but we all agree about one thing: the world will know we are Christians by our love and that includes our words.