The Words We Speak
Modern day America is drastically different from times past. One of the areas of change has been in the way we express ourselves in communicating. Profanity, slander, and gossip are the order of the day with many conservatives and Christians (yeah. Calling it out folks) joining right in.
WHAT’S IN A WORD?
Our culture is so inundated with verbal vulgarity and innuendos that people don’t equate certain words as being profane anymore. Many conservatives feel that they can talk however they want to talk yet espouse a belief in God as if that’s enough. May I remind them that even demons believe in God. A simple belief in God means nothing without action that reflects that belief (James 2:18-19).
Words are powerful. It is by words that we (Christians in general) believe the universe was created and everything in it (Genesis 1). It was by words that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45). It was because of the words he spoke and had written that Martin Luther, the reformationist, changed the way we view God. It was words that declared the that the United States would be a sovereign nation. Words are the compliment to our very souls being saved (Romans 10:9).
What’s in a word? More than we can imagine.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. (Proverbs 18:21)
A REFLECTION OF CHARACTER
There are over 170,000 words in the dictionary. Yet many people choose to use the most profane ones to express themselves. Why? Because there’s a black stain on their heart. In a word, sin.
O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. (Matthew 12:34-37)
The way we use words is a direct reflection of our character. It shows what’s truly in our hearts. So, if profanity spews from your mouth, it simply means your heart is full of profanity and in turn reflects you have a profane character.
THE STANDARD IS GOD’S WORD
Just because our culture embraces profane speaking doesn’t mean we need to follow suit. If the God of the Bible is truly your God, then He’s called you to raise the st
andard.
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. (Colossians 3:8)
Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: (Ephesians 4:31)
The ultimate call of a Christian is to be Christlike in whatever station God puts us. We can’t do this out of our own strength but through a daily refreshing in God’s word and submission to the Holy Spirit as He empowers us to be what God wants us to be. By doing this, we’ll begin to see the person we were meant to be.
