“Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so.” (James 3:10)
I used to cuss like a sailor, I don’t anymore. I used to take God’s name in vain. I don’t do that anymore either. Salvation cured me of both of those bad habits. But I do let an occasional damn or hell out when I get angry.
Frankly, until recently, I didn’t see very much wrong it, at least not until my I heard my eighteen year-old son blurt out a “damn” recently. It was first time I ever heard him say a bad word. I just cringed and I felt the Spirit in me cringe, too.
It was right then and there that I realized how God reacts to those rare instances when I let one fly. He cringes and feels the same disappointment that I felt the moment I heard my son. The truth is it’s not what you expect to hear from a Christian, even if it’s an every-now-and-then kind of thing.
So what does the Bible say about such language? The major principle at work in the life of a Christian is the fact that we become a temple when we accept Christ. Since we carry the spirit of God inside us, we have an added responsibility to be reverent in the choices we make. That’s what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
The path of repentance means that we choose to take the high road in how we conduct ourselves. Such choices are not always easy, but offer a glimpse of the change that is going on inside of us. Jesus said that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:34) In other words, what rolls off our tongues speaks volumes about what lies in our hearts.
Sometimes we trivialize sin in our lives. For example, I would never argue that taking the Lord’s name in vain is okay for the Christian. Yet, I didn’t seem to have any problem with the fact that I occasionally allowed a damn or a hell to slip out. What’s the difference?
The truth is neither is pleasing to the Lord. Profanity in any form is never harmless. One Christian writer described it this way: “It gnaws its way into the recesses of one’s thinking, and, if harbored, will make its presence spontaneously felt at the slightest provocation. This is what happens when we allow ourselves to be unnecessarily and regularly exposed to its vileness.”
My wife read this column and said to me, “Are you sure you want to make an example of yourself?” Perhaps she’s worried that my readers might think less of me when they learn that I have sin in my life. “I’m sure there are some that will think less of me,” I told her. “But they should read what Jesus said in John 8 to those who were about to stone an adulterous woman: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” (John 8:7)
Thank you, Lord, for teaching me. Thank you, Lord, for forgiving me. But most of all, thank you, Lord, for reminding me to always look at the sin in the lives of others through the sin in my own life.
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