If you ever had the experience as a kid of having your mouth washed out with soap, you will stand up and testify as to the effectiveness of that good old fashioned means of discipline. I experienced it once, and once was enough to last me for the rest of my life, through the Millennium, and a good ways into eternity!
It seems to me that a lot of people today need a trip to the kitchen sink with a bar of soap. Maybe two! Sins of speech appear to be on the rise inside and outside of the church. Apparently, people have not been taught how to communicate intelligently, so they resort to profanity. Or, having nothing better to do, they turn to the pastime of idle minds and busybodies and talk about other people. And then, there is the sin of lying, which is the first and last sin mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 3:4; Revelation 21:8).
Think of it! Christians saved by grace lying, cussing, and gossiping. I will state it lightly – these things should not be!
Paul issued this command to all New Testament believers in Eph. 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” There must have been a problem with this in the Church at Ephesus, so Paul told them to clean up their speech.
Interestingly, in the very next verse Paul warned against grieving the Holy Spirit. The major attribute of the Holy Spirit is….you guessed it, holiness. When Christians engage in unholy communication of any kind, the Holy Spirit who lives within us is offended. The word Paul used means to distress and make sorrowful. Imagine causing the Holy Spirit pain and sorrow because of our bad language.
If this is an area of struggle in your life, then ask the Lord to do for you what He did for the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 6 the prophet confessed that he was a sinful man. In v7 an angel took a live coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips and his iniquity was taken away. Ask the Lord to touch your lips and transform your speech from corrupt to clean; from words of profanity to words of purity.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
Pastor Todd Weston
It seems to me that a lot of people today need a trip to the kitchen sink with a bar of soap. Maybe two! Sins of speech appear to be on the rise inside and outside of the church. Apparently, people have not been taught how to communicate intelligently, so they resort to profanity. Or, having nothing better to do, they turn to the pastime of idle minds and busybodies and talk about other people. And then, there is the sin of lying, which is the first and last sin mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 3:4; Revelation 21:8).
Think of it! Christians saved by grace lying, cussing, and gossiping. I will state it lightly – these things should not be!
Paul issued this command to all New Testament believers in Eph. 4:29, “Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” There must have been a problem with this in the Church at Ephesus, so Paul told them to clean up their speech.
Interestingly, in the very next verse Paul warned against grieving the Holy Spirit. The major attribute of the Holy Spirit is….you guessed it, holiness. When Christians engage in unholy communication of any kind, the Holy Spirit who lives within us is offended. The word Paul used means to distress and make sorrowful. Imagine causing the Holy Spirit pain and sorrow because of our bad language.
If this is an area of struggle in your life, then ask the Lord to do for you what He did for the prophet Isaiah. In Isaiah 6 the prophet confessed that he was a sinful man. In v7 an angel took a live coal from the altar and touched Isaiah’s lips and his iniquity was taken away. Ask the Lord to touch your lips and transform your speech from corrupt to clean; from words of profanity to words of purity.
“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer” (Psalm 19:14).
Pastor Todd Weston
