Bullets for the Battle

The Bullet of Grace: Language

The following story is by radio personality and Bible teacher, Martin De Haan.

“In the aisle of a neighborhood store, a 3-year-old caught my attention. I heard him before I saw him. ‘Ohhh myy Gaaa---d.’ Then he said it again. From the height of his father’s knee, he mirrored the irony of a generation which, while attempting to remove the name of God from public life, has developed an obsession with profanity.

I remember getting my mouth washed out with soap as a child for repeatedly using similar words at the dinner table. Later in my high school years, I spoke the forbidden language among friends in an awkward adolescent rite of passage.

But the problem is not locked in the past. On occasion I still catch myself expressing feelings of self-contempt, frustration or anger in silent or muffled profanity. I cringe at the thought of letting such words and emotions slip out in public. I’m fearful when I hear stories of how the most unlikely people have been known to ‘swear like a trooper’ when coming out of surgical anesthesia.

Where does this profane impulse come from? Profanity doesn’t just happen. It is rooted in the dark muck of fallen human nature (Romans 3:9-14). In a twisted way, it does something for us. The aggressive or careless use of damn or hell or God expresses feelings of anger, anxiety or arrogance. They are aggressive words, which express the opposite of submission or the touch of grace. They sow our latent desire to achieve dominance nor only over the restraints of social custom but over the One who has told us not to misuse His name (Exodus 20:7).

Profane impulses are red flags of the soul. They never signal a submissive relationship to the Father. They never show God’s grace. They never reflect a good awareness of the presence of God, Who is so patient and full of mercy. It is because we see and believe so poorly that we speak so carelessly.”

As I read these words, I’m reminded that the solution to a “dirty mouth” is not soap, but the Savior. He can and will change our attitudes and actions. And, yes, even our words, as we let Him rule in our hearts.