No More Trash Talk

One of the best ways to help ourselves get out of the habit of voluntary or involuntary swearing and filthy talk is to keep ourselves away from situations, as much as possible, where cursing and swearing are the norm.  While we may have to tolerate swearing in work environments, there are many other situations where we can make decisions about what we input into our brains.  There’s music with off-colour language that we can remove from our mp3 player.  TV shows, DVD’s, and movies have warnings around coarse language which we can use to help us decide about viewing or not viewing them.  There are friends and associates whom we can either gently ask not to swear around us or we can limit the time we spend in their company.

God takes swearing and filthy talk seriously.  Do we?  What are we willing to do to help tame our tongue and help us speak with purity and respect?

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.  (Ephesians 4:29 NLT)

We claim to be Christians with our mouths.  God’s word challenges us to think about other words that come from our mouths and only claim to be a Christian when the way we live matches who we say we are. 

Those who claim they belong to the Lord must turn away from all wickedness. (2 Timothy 2:19 NLT) 

This should give us reason to pause when we are about to open our mouths or fill our minds with cursing and obscene talk.  We are not being “prudes” when we do this.  We are acting as people of God.  Are we out of step with our culture?  Absolutely!  Just as Jesus did, we are called to challenge people to a higher standard by the way we live.  Do we?

©2013 Partners in Hope