Have you justified your words today?
Did your mind say that it was OK but you still have doubts?
Are the doubts excuses when you really know the truth?
Man can justify just about anything if he thinks about it long enough. Thomas Hobbes writes “The secret thoughts of a man run over all things holy, profane, clean, obscene, grave and light, without shame or blame. ”
We say to ourselves that it’ s OK, as, after all, it is my right to speak when I want, what I want, where I want, no matter the content. Read the words of Lytton Strachey …”Perhaps of all the creations of man language is the most astonishing.” How do you use your language?
How do we control our thoughts? Paul tells us in Romans 7:15…I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want but I do the very thing that I hate.” There is no one who deep inside the heart knows that profanity is wrong. It is offensive to the ear and when released, it can be deadly. It is usually directed to someone, not something, although at times, my thoughts towards my computer have been less than life giving. So what triggers this speech that allows us to leave our sensible selves and be taken over by the most dreaded word in the english language – hate? If we do not believe this, we are justifying our own actions and not facing the truth, the difficult truth – we have lost control.
Pain, either physical or spiritual, cannot really be understood by anyone except the person experiencing it. Have we hurt someone today? Did we offend anyone today? Profanity has two faces: the face of a direct hit or the face of shock. Can you believe that he said that? I cannot believe that came out of her mouth. What are these people thinking?
Controlling one’s tongue is life’s cruelest gift. If we could, just for a moment, picture a reaction or hear the sound of what we are about to say; then, and only then, can we truly be the servant that we are meant to be. The book of James is a favorite of mine and if you will read Chapter 3:vs 4-5 …. Or look at ships: though they are so large that it takes strong winds to drive them, yet they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great exploits. How great a forest is set ablaze by a small fire and in vs 6…and the tongue is fire. The tongue is placed among our members as a world of iniquity; it stains the whole body; sets on fire the cycle of nature…..
In our hearts, we know that profanity is hurtful, it is callous and it is selfish, in that it is what we want to say now for everyone to hear and we do not care about the consequences. Our speech should be on the things of beauty, poetry, music, kindness, consideration, love, teaching, giving – is there an end to what we as servants are to say in goodness to our brothers and sisters. Be it a habit acquired years ago, be it a careless moment, be it a calculated arrow – in any case, if you wish to curse, curse your thoughts for wanting to curse.
Now, that really is a discussion for another day.
Blessings.