"So I went to the f%*#ing grocery store right?"
Umm no. Please watch your mouth. You sound pretentious and unrefined. You sound like you could use a vocabulary check. Do you even know what that word means?
I hold the right to use this topic for discussion because for the longest time, I swore like a sailor. Believe it or not, I could curse with the best of them. A lot of my vocabulary consisted of harsh words and dirty jokes. I thought I was being funny, I thought I would get attention from it. It turns out I was trying to fit in for all the wrong reasons.
My thinking was that God didn't care that I swore, I rarely thought of Him anyhow, why would He bother to think of me?
Although I thank my church friends for their commitment to helping me with my walk with Christianity, they went about trying to get rid of this bad little habit of mine completely wrong. I was in 8th grade when I first started going to my church, and it was just for the mid-week youth program. I wouldn't dare cuss while I was there, because there were adults, and I didn't want to get into trouble. But at school I was a loose cannon, I didn't care if I offended anyone, I was just doing what I've always done.
My church friends would scold me and tell me that swearing was "bad." They got on my case all the time and were not so nice about trying to understand why I held tight to this part of my life so closely. Someone still had yet to explain to me why it was so wrong.
This went on for another good two years I suppose, I had started to call myself a Christian by sophomore year, and I wanted to start acting more like one. At our annual ski-trip, my youth group huddled into one of the hotel rooms we were staying at, and my youth Pastor Tom began his message.
I don't know if he talked about anything other than swearing that night, but I sure don't remember anything else. He talked about how it says in the Bible that we should honor God with our words. Sure it doesn't give us a list of words that we can and cannot say, but if we feel morally convicted to abstain from saying certain things, it's because Jesus is trying to help you understand what He approves of.
That night I felt guilty. Not one of my friends had made me feel bad about the language I used. But when Tom talked about how we need to be a light for the world, I understood that my light was dim, and I needed to let go of something I'd been clinging to for a very long time.
From then on it became a daily struggle to watch my mouth, it was difficult, probably one of the hardest things I've ever done actually. But God blessed me with a clean heart and I was able to drop cussing cold turkey. I would slip up occasionally of course, but over time it's gotten so much easier.
My life has changed for the better since I've cleaned up my mouth, and I'd like to say that my light shines a little brighter. The way I speak sets me apart,when people ask me why I don't swear, it sets me up to explain to them about my faith. It's something I wouldn't be able to do if I hadn't made the decision to change.
I found a whole bunch of verses on cursing, so here's a few of my favorites:
Ephesians 4:29
"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 5:4
"Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving."
Exodus 20:7
“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."
Colossians 3:8
"But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth."
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