In previous blogs I have mentioned my father as a man of God. He never took any shortcuts in terms of living his life as a Christian. What I mean is that we, human beings, have the tendency to accommodate the scriptures to our needs or better stated to “our wants”- we take shortcuts.
Early in life I noticed that my Dad was extremely careful with his tongue. In this case, I am referring to his words. In fact, I never heard any gossip but I must also add that he had a complete control of his mouth – I never heard a dirty word coming out of his mouth. This characteristic caught my attention so I asked him: Dad, Why is it that you don’t say dirty words? Is that a sin? His answer was very simple: There isn’t any need to say them. He continued saying that you could say any joke or express disappointment without foul language.
This simple explanation given to me by my father had become a norm for him. It was automatic. But the question is: How did he get to that point? I found the answer in several passages of the Bible.
Let’s start with Ephesians 4:29:
“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).
We underestimate the power of our words. The wounds created by hateful statements are deeper and more difficult to heal than physical wounds. Our words can be uplifting or a very destructive force:
“The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them” (Proverbs 12:6)
I would like to emphasize the importance of our verbal expressions by using a fragment of the gospel of Mathew:
“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out the evil stored up in him” (Mathew 12:34-35)