Worthy Words

Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it. ~ Ephesians 4:29 AMP

Foul adj.adjective – Morally detestable; wicked. Of a vulgar or obscene nature. Very disagreeable or displeasing; horrid. Bad or unfavorable. Offensive to the senses; revolting

Evil adj.adjective -Morally bad or wrong; wicked. Causing ruin, injury, or pain; harmful. Characterized by or indicating future misfortune; ominous. Bad or blameworthy by report; infamous. Characterized by anger or spite; malicious

Good adj.adjective-Worthy of respect; honorable .Attractive; handsome. Beneficial to health; salutary. Valid or true. Genuine; Pleasant; enjoyable. Of moral excellence; upright. Benevolent; kind .Loyal; staunch. Well-behaved; obedient.

Beneficial adj.adjective-Producing or promoting a favorable result; advantageous. Enhance wellbeing

Last year I tweeted up twitter world with #MarchMouthMonth. I was convicted that I and my family needed to speak Worthier Words. I used this verse above as our kick off verse for that challenge. I had never given much thought to my words. I used to cuss like a sailor and to be honest, I still can easily pick up a word a little too colorful to describe something and sometimes the words “Oh Snap”, just don’t fully describe the situation or make me feel better so I just let the old cuss words fly. I feel better only momentarily, than I realize, my kiddos or others have had a front row seat to my unworthy words. I grew up with a grandmother that saw everything with a critical and judgmental eye and she wasn’t afraid to tell you what she thought. She was a big time screamer and would rage with lots of harsh words. I thought that was normal behavior growing up. I wanted so desperately for my kiddos to unlearn some of the bad habits that the broken, pre-transformed me had displayed to them. I am so thankful that God so lovingly works with us transforming, renewing, renovating, and restoring us and when we do fall short His grace covers us along our imperfect journeys. With God’s help we all made big improvements with our mouths. I was almost finished with this Devotion for you on Worthy Words when just this past week I heard an awesome message on Words by Melody Barker. God used her and that message to take my challenge on words even deeper. She referenced the verse Matthew 12:36 “But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the Day of Judgment.” OUCH! Then I looked it up in the message translation…“It’s your heart, not the dictionary that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”            DOUBLE OUCH!

Idle – of no real worth, importance, or significance. Empty, trifling, vain, useless. Rumors or Gossip.

Think of that definition of Idle. On a given day how many idle words do we speak that are not building anyone or anything up?

My back hurts, idiot drivers, turds, I am tired, I hate when this or that happens, I hate the car rider line, traffic stinks, you never listen, did you hear about so and so, I dread the grocery store, I don’t want to wake up, the weather is too hot, too cold, I hate my job, is it the weekend yet, Ugh, I don’t want to exercise, Weirdo, this is so slow…

Words make deposits into our souls. The words we speak to ourselves and the words spoken by others to us; make huge deposits into our soul. Unfortunately we too can make lots of bad deposits into people’s souls by the words we speak. It is not just those self- defeating demeaning words, the curse words, the negative critical or judgmental words, but all unworthy or idle words can wither a soul up quick. God knew the importance of choosing our words wisely. God knew that the tongue had the power of life or death. He knows a truly transformed mouth must be exercised Season after Season, not just for a month.

May we all be challenged to speak Worthier Words.   ~   XXOO   Michelle Bollom

Still not convinced our words are powerful?  Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIOx7i7MkY8