29 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
Home ownership has taught me how to creatively curse. Sure, I knew the BIG words – those you dare not utter within your neighborhood church, yet never did the passion meet the language as much as it does now. For example, installing doorknobs have never stirred the sin of my soul as it does today. The devil lays waiting in home repairs.
As a writer, I have an interesting relationship with cursing. Words are needed to illustrate events and feeling properly, and sometimes you need a more extreme word. In my peril of home repair, the problem was not the words I used (and there were more than a few of them), but the heart behind those words. The anger and frustration that catapulted them out of gritted teeth was the issue of sin, not the vocabulary I chose. It wasn’t as if in those moments I pondered “what word adequately describes this searing frustration I am feeling in this moment?” Not even close.
As believers, our language reveals who we are and the character we covet. Our language is to scream of the grace given to us. Our language is what separates us from the culture we swim against. In such grace, we redeem the words of culture and speak in the language of mercy.
Matt simon blog 