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
Our culture has really developed a habit of trash talking.
By trash talking, I am referring to those cheap, empty expressions that we
often use. Just think of the words and expressions we hear on TV and in movies,
read on the internet, and hear on the streets. In our passage today, Paul calls
this unwholesome talk, and it should not be coming out of our mouths.
Our lives are made up of words. We begin our day with “good
morning” and end our day with “good night.” If you think back to Genesis 1, God
created the universe by speaking words. He said, “Let there be . . .” and there
was.
We quickly remove stinking trash from our homes, but how
about those unwholesome words. Are we realizing just how harmful they can be
and how they affect our witness to others?
Think about some of the trash that may be in your
vocabulary. Are your statements always true or do you sometimes slip in deceitful words? Deceitful words are
misleading, and they cause us to tell “little white lies.” Satan is the
champion liar. He loves to hear our lies because he knows that one lie will
lead to another one. Before we know it, we find ourselves easily speaking
deceitful statements.
What about gossip?
Many people like to gossip. Aren’t we all guilty of spreading unfavorable
information about someone? Paul says this about gossip in Romans 1:29-30: . . .They are full of envy, murder, strife,
deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent,
arrogant and boastful . . . We can see that gossips are put in the same
category with murderers.
Then we have that filthy
language that slips out every now and then. Of course, the more we use
profanity and filthy words, the more common they become to us. We must be aware
that someone is always listening.
Children grow up using the words they have heard at home.
Remember, what we say reveals the condition of our heart.
Georgia Andrus
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