Cute Sayings

Cute sayings are little phrases or statements designed to goad people into a thought or action. They are very common amongst Christians and are usually well intended, but some can be harmful. Below are a few that come to mind:

1.      Bulletin boards in front of church buildings with cute sayings that sometimes help Christians but are rarely understood by the unsaved. Yet much of the time these cute sayings are pointed toward the unsaved.

2.      The “Don’t join a perfect church if you find one or it will no longer be perfect” cute saying. I know of no one who is looking for a perfect church here on earth. I have run across a few who were looking for churches daily practicing the love of God. What those people usually find are weak, self-centered, shallow, “friendly” churches. That is, churches who know how to be like a friend but don’t know how to be a friend (a friend is one who knows you as you are, understands where you have been, accepts who have become, and still invites you to grow).

3.      The “Don’t come to church looking like you have been soured in pickle juice” cute saying. This cute saying does absolutely nothing to point people to Jesus Christ. This cute saying will cause the person to whom it is directed to do one of three things: 1) to put on a mask so others don’t see the “pickle face” underneath; 2) cause them to leave the church; or 3) to say “forget you” and keep the “pickle face” on in defiance. There is a reason that person is wearing a “pickle face”. Mocking and ridiculing that person will not help. It will only hurt. It is amazing how many preachers I have observed that have worn a “pickle face” before and after a sermon, and even in everyday life. Yet some of those same preachers mock some in the congregation from the pulpit for wearing a “pickle face”.

4.      The cute sayings of calling people who are foolish in spiritual things a “nut”. This is really the same as saying “Raca” as recorded in Jesus’ words in the Gospels. This cute saying may rally people around the speaker but does nothing to point people to Christ. This is a cute saying of worthless spiritual value.

5.      The “Don’t wear your feelings on your shirtsleeve” cute saying. I have yet to meet a person who did not “wear their feelings on their shirtsleeves” in some area of life. The ones who speak against it are often the most guilty. The problem isn’t with people “wearing their feelings on their shirtsleeves”, but with other people’s reaction to it. To ridicule it is to cause the person to harden up inside and to learn a negative control over their feelings (a negative control the accuser may have already learned). A friend is needed, not an accuser.

6.      Sometimes even Hebrew 10:25 is used as a cute saying (“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together…”) People are being convinced that they are obeying God by simply being in church. But the rest of that verse, and the context surrounding it, emphasizes exhorting one another—that is, pointing each other to Christ. We can assemble together without exhorting one another, but we cannot exhort one another without assembling together. Faithfulness to church is not the same as faithfulness to God or even to fellow Christians. By using Hebrews 10:25 to goad people into attending church, God’s Word is being reduced to a cute saying.

Cute sayings can be useful in individual situations. God Himself deals with individuals. When cute sayings are thrown out at a group, they become watered down and “cute”, but of no real value. It is in one-on-one relationships that they can be useful.