How should we speak as Christians? This is something that I have been pondering a lot lately for my own life as a Christian young adult. Right now in our culture we seem to be oftentimes bombarded with people speaking cuss words or talking in a mean or foul way. You hear it on TV and in movies, you find it on the internet and through social media, sadly, you can even it hear when you’re out and about walking down the street.

I oftentimes wish that it wasn’t so frequent around us and that people would be more cautious about how they speak. But what bothers me even more than the people in the world speaking like this is the fact that sometimes even Christians are joining in and saying ugly words. I also realize that sometimes it just slips out accidentally, and we have all said things that we wish we wouldn’t have and regret later.

And maybe you say bad words at times because you are just trying to fit in with those around you or impress your friends or acquaintances at school or work. But as Christians we are not called to fit in with our culture and do what the rest of the world does around us. We are called to stand out and be different because of Christ and Him shining through us.

You may be wondering though, why is it wrong to say cuss words?

Your parents have probably told you not to and you simply accepted the fact because you wanted to honor and obey them. But, even more importantly I want to look at the Bible and see what God tells us about how we should be speaking because ultimately the way we talk should be about trying to impress anyone with how “good” or “bad” we can talk but how we can honor Christ and be an ambassador for Him when we speak.

My biggest argument for not using bad words when we talk comes from this verse that my mom taught me when I was little and that I have held on to ever since as a reminder, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” Ephesians 4:29

When we speak corruptly it does not build others up.

Rather, it tears them down with harsh words that are unpleasant to hear and that do not mean nice things. Instead of tearing others down we as Christians are called to build them up with edifying words full of grace.
In James Chapter 6 in the Bible it says this concerning how we should talk to others with our tongue, “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so.” James 3:9-10

I know that this may be hard to do at times when someone or something is heavily aggravating you or your day is going horribly. But instead of responding by cussing about it, take a deep breath, and ask God to help you to calm down and help you respond to the situation or person gracefully. If we respond the way that Jesus would to a hard situation instead of the way that the world does we are speaking volumes to those around us about what we believe.

Your friends and family will stop and wonder why you are responding to the situation in a graceful way instead of getting angry and saying unkind things or bad words and will probably be curious to know why. It will be at moments like those ones that God may give you the opportunity to be able to witness to someone who does not know Him.

So, the next time that someone or something annoys you, or you want to say a bad word out of habit or respond in an unkind way to someone, I want to instead challenge you to think about how you can respond in a way that will minister grace to those listening to you or reading what you write on Facebook and other social media accounts. Ask God to give you words that will build up and encourage those around you instead. And know by doing that you will be bringing glory to God. God bless you ladies!