The War of Words

This is a post that a friend of mine put on his blog today. I found it so convicting that I too wanted to share it. Thanks, Jason, for your heart and transparency.

Speech

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.
-Ephesians 4:29

I love this verse and hate it all at the same time. I love the verse because this is how we are to be as followers of Christ but I hate it because it's a huge struggle of mine. Jerry Bridges, in his book Respectable Sins, says this, "We see that we are not to let any corrupting talk come out of our mouths. Corrupting talk is not limited to profanity or obscene speech. It includes all the various types of negative speech I mentioned previously (lying, slander, critical speech, etc.). Note Paul's absolute prohibition. No corrupting talk. None whatsoever. This means no gossip, no sarcasm, no critical speech, no harsh words. All of these sinful words that tend to tear down another person must be put out of our speech. Think about what the church of Jesus Christ would look like if we all sought to apply Paul's words." I debated whether to post this or not. This is not easy stuff but Christ did not promise easy, He promised a battle that can be won by His grace. These challenges or convictions should do nothing more than take us to our knees in prayer to the Father. We are called to examine ourselves and last night was a wake up call about my speech. Praise God for the cross that allows us to confess and repent and keep pressing on toward the goal in Christ Jesus.