No Rotten Words

 When food is fresh, it has a very good taste, but when food is rotten, it tastes horrible. When we eat good food, it nourishes us and meets our needs for energy. However, when we eat rotten food, it makes us sick to the point of vomiting it out of our stomach. The contrast is clear and undeniable. It is much the same with the kind of words we choose. They can good or they can be rotten.

The Bible gives us a clear command here and in other passages. (Ephesians 4:29) We are commanded not to let any corrupt or rotten words proceed from our mouth, but only words that are good for necessary edification, that they may impart grace to the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29) There are three principles here for all of us to understand and to apply in our lives.

We are not to use words that have a rotten meaning or a rotten connotation. It is not just taking the Lord's name in vain that the Lord prohibits. God prohibits us, as Christians, from using words that are in bad taste, because they are cuss words or slang words that do not build up other people, but they drag them down into the speech sewer. Instead, we are commanded to use words that build people up. The right words don't make people cringe. They make people smile.

However, not only are the words we use to be good and edifying. They are to impart grace. Grace is giving  or receiving more than we deserve. When we use the right words, they treat the other person better than they deserve. They communicate a positive message, not a negative one. This can be done, even when the other has done something to hurt us. We extend grace to them by the words we choose to use with them.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Ephesian 5-6 and Philippians 1.