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Decoding Christian Lingo

Christians don’t have a corner on the Lingo market; we ALL use it.

Lingo can be found in all close knit groups. Families can have a kind of “code talk” they use. Whether it is pet names, nick names, private jokes, slang, movie references or word “misuses” – we ALL use lingo. Human beings just naturally develop short cuts in communication as relationships evolve. Some of the short cuts take the form of acronyms. Text messages are full of those. Lingo is a double-edged sword though… While comforting to those on the “inside”, it can be highly irritating and unwelcoming to those on the “outside”.

Common Christian Words and Phrases

Abundant: Free flowing; More than enough; What I want and then some; Plenty; Excess; My life is going well

Bless your heart: You poor thing; I am so sorry; Your life sucks right now; That’s too bad; I am glad I am not you. Hope its not contagious. Gotta go!

Blessed: Some use this as statement of gratitude: “I know how good I have it and I can see that God is taking care of me.” Some use it as an observation: “Your life is going really well.” It could also be a bumper sticker or T-shirt: “Too Blessed to be Stressed”

Blessing: Things worked out the way you wanted them to OR Things did not work out the way you wanted them to and through some hindsight you are really happy they didn’t! Something you say BEFORE you eat because if you don’t… something really bad will happen.

Fellowship: Could refer to a group of people like a church; Most times it refers to the activity of meeting with other people with the same worldview and hanging out together for mutual encouragement.

Victory in this area: A temporary, or perhaps even long term, improvement with part of your behavior that you wanted to change. A weakness you do not currently struggle with. Something someone else needs…

On fire for the Lord: Deeply convinced that Jesus is who he says he is in the Bible. And, not worried about what anyone else thinks about how you act or how you talk about it. Genuine Christian joy and transparency; Passionate about what Jesus did.

Special Word from the Lord: “I’ve got a special word from The Lord for you” which is usually followed up with some kind of manipulation.

Walking through this Season: Living out your life in the midst of some struggle which you hope is short term and not permanent. This comment can be fragile though. Struggles are real and painful. They can be charged with emotion! “Life sucks right now but I am hoping some good can come out of it.” “I am grinding it out right now. What choice do I have?”

Real Life Example from a Friend of Mine

Recently, I had a guy tell me that ‘God had revealed to him’ that he was in a ‘new season’ fulfilling his ‘destiny’. Do what? God has showed me? New season? Destiny? Who uses that kind of jargon? Oh… you are speaking Christianese. Christianese is a language that is accepted by some believers who speak in non defined terms that cause you to appear to have a spirituality that others can’t attain or understand.

When I asked how God had revealed this, he said: it was in the supernatural. Do what? What do you mean by that?  When I asked what he meant by a new season, I was confused with his answer because he was confused with his answer. He talked in circles that caused more confusion than clarity. I then asked what he meant by fulfilling his destiny? He explained that he was walking in the path of his anointing.

Pause: I need 4 Advil. Can you say Headache? Where do we find all this jargon in the Bible?

The power of his manifested giftedness was so overwhelming that I felt an overflow deep within the core of my being that made it clear that I was standing in the presence of an enlightened servant of the most high. My soul was overwhelmed. I suddenly saw the deepest inner truths rising up from the wealth of knowledge that he possessed. I found myself standing on the brink of a new season, basking in the light of my destiny. Wow! You’ve got to stop the madness!

“I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your thoughts and mind will be led astray from a simple, sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” 2 Corinthians‬ ‭11:3‬ ‭ – Simple. Sincere. Pure. Devotion to Christ. Not Complicated. Confusing. Chaotic. Vague. Keep it simple. Keep your communication relevant.

Please use words that help the listeners understand. Realize that using spiritual jargon makes you look weird NOT deep. Jesus shared many parables that were earthly stories with heavenly meanings. Earthly stories. NOT stories that sound like they are from Mars.  ~ Tim Cash

Jargon is not limited to Christians

Here’s a recent post on my Facebook feed.  If we have to Google words and phrases to be able to understand what someone is saying, it just might be filled with Lingo.

“We’re not wanting to be insensitive to what so many of you are feeling, but we are very much wanting you to put this death thing in the proper perspective: You are all going to die! Except there is no death. You’re all going to make your transition into Non-Physical. It is time to stop making your transition into Non-Physical sound like a subject that is uncomfortable and begin acknowledging that it is something that happens to everyone. This death thing is so misunderstood that you use it to torture yourself never-endingly and just absolutely unnecessarily. There are those who feel such fulfillment of life and such Connection to Source Energy, who understand that there is no separation between what is physical and Non-Physical; who understand that there is not even a lapse in consciousness, that “death” is a matter of closing one’s eyes in this dimension and literally opening one’s eyes in the other dimension. And that, truly, is how all death is, no matter how it looks, up to that point.. The re-emergence into Source Energy is always a delightful thing.”

Resources

Financial Vision Beyond the Now

Legacy Journey

What I found exciting in Dave Ramsey’s book, The Legacy Journey, was a provocative financial vision beyond the now. It all starts with the foundational framework Dave lays out in Financial Peace University. But that is the “ab crunch” part of this (definitely not my favorite). I needed something big to pull me through the foundation building. The “pull” for me was the hope I got through the vision exercise for the time after all of the Baby Steps have been taken!

Baby Steps

(from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University)

  1. Place $1000 in an Beginner Emergency Fund
  2. Pay off all debt except your home mortgage using the Debt Snowball
  3. Put three to six months of living expenses into savings as an Emergency Fund
  4. Invest 15% of the household income in pre-tax retirement plans
  5. Start college funding for the kids
  6. Pay your home off early
  7. Build wealth and give

Why I Struggle

I don’t like being called a baby! And yet, I look at the Baby Steps above and think… this is going to take me a lifetime. I hate budgeting. Its hard and I don’t want to do it. This is going to take FOR-EVER. My income is up and down and unpredictable. I am never going to get to the fun part!!! But here is the core problem: Everything starts with the small stuff. “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” Luke 16:10 NIV

Manager – Not the Owner

I believe this subtile shift will unlock part of the hope for me. For some reason, I can get more engaged by doing this for God and managing God’s money than I can for building wealth for myself. I know that logically I cannot manage my money so well that it will guarantee me security or happiness. So, my tendency is to give up and just survive.

I do want to get the pressure off and get out of debt though. The irony is that the disciplines that will allow someone to climb out of debt are the same disciplines that will allow someone to manage wealth and be able to give generously. You don’t graduate to some place of freedom from Biblical principles. God’s ways are best – and they are necessary. As Dave Ramsey says “You never outgrow the need to do a monthly budget”. If your job was Money Manager, you would make decisions based on a budget and your performance would be evaluated on how close to stuck to the budget. Well, we are managing someone else’s money!

Dave Ramsey’s statement in the book really hits home: “We all have equal value before the Lord and are equal as humans, but we do not all bring the same level of economic service to the marketplace.”  Everyone has the same opportunity to manage their money by Biblical principals. We just don’t all do it. And, there really is no good excuse for it. Ugh!

Jesus taught on this in Luke 16 and also in Luke 19:11-27. Here is a great commentary on Luke 16.

Contentment and Ratios are the Key

“Content people don’t always have the best of everything, but they always make the best of everything.” Like happiness, contentment is an attitude rather than a accomplishment. One of the keys to generating contentment early is to be on a path that can last. People can be content if they believe in the plan or the path. Taking out debt is a path to freedom because Debt can unravel dreams faster than anything. Debt numbers, though, are specific dollar amounts. Once, you escape the debt numbers, you start working with excesses and growing with those takes ratios. Ratios keep you in balance. Dave Ramsey calls these excess amounts “Overflow”.  The other thing that comes into play for Christians is Tithing.

Here are some ratios for consideration that split up the Overflow Total:

  • Tithe for Overflow Ratio: 10%
  • Taxes for Overflow Ratio: 40%
  • Extra Giving for Overflow Ratio: 10%
  • Investing for Overflow Ratio: 35%
  • Extra Lifestyle for Overflow Ratio: 5%

A Real Estate Agent Example

One planning suggestion we are taught as team builders at Keller Williams Realty is to take a fixed salary as the Lead Agent of $100,000/year. Once that is fixed, the Lead Agent’s lifestyle should be based on that. The rest? Should be managed by business principles and ratios. In this example, lets assume that the team generated excess income to the lead agent (as the team owner) of $100,000. Just add 3 zero’s to the percentages above to divide up the overflow. The problem most real estate agents have is when they see an excess $1, they see $1 and they spend it all. Using ratios will help agents like me make a much needed mental conversion when it comes to any excess income. Overflow dollars can have rules thanks to these ratios. Those rules help things from getting out of balance. Emergency Reserves get built. Taxes get paid. Investments get saved for. Giving increases. There are some lifestyle bonuses along the way. THAT sounds like the legacy I want to leave!