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by Ainish Philip
Have you ever been in a situation where you hurt your friend or your loved ones without thinking? Can you think of any moment where you wished “Oops!! I shouldn’t have said that!” If yes, you’d want to read more.
It is surprising to know that most of our language is influenced by who and what we surround ourselves with. We live in a world where we are so used to hearing foul language from movies, videos, TV shows, video games, certain music genres, and various other forms of entertainment. It’s not uncommon to find the young generation using empty words in the form of swearing, cussing, cracking dirty jokes, using slangs, playful jabs, double meaning phrases, and tongue-in-cheeks as part of their normal language since its considered ‘happening and cool’. You might think, “So what? Who even cares about it?”
Jesus cares for you. The point is, our so called ‘cool language’ could be socially acceptable, but is it pleasing to our heavenly Father?
The Bible teaches us that we will be held accountable for all our words, even our careless, idle words. “I tell you on the day of judgment, you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter” (Mathew 12:36).
St. James the Apostle, talks about controlling the tongue. He reminds us in James chapter 3, that man can tame animals, but not the human tongue. With our tongue, we bless the Lord, and with the same tongue, we curse people. Let’s find out how we can tame the tongue and use it for the glory of God.
A good way to begin would be by surrendering our speech to the Holy Spirit. “O Lord, set a watch before my mouth, a guard at the door of my lips" (Psalm 141:3). This is what the Saints did. It is said about St. Thomas Aquinas, that he would first talk to God and then talk about God to others! When we strive to first talk to God and then to talk to our friends, people around us will see that we are speaking from the fullness of the Spirit within us.
Another good way is to think before we speak! In other words, reflect upon on words and guard our mouth against speaking anything foolish. “He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from trouble" (Proverbs 21:23). "
Discouraging friends against using the ‘four letter word’ and empty slangs will definitely act as a soothing balm for the listener as well as the speaker who would eventually want to change that habit of using bad language (Be patient, they will change..Jesus sees your good intention).
Avoid excessive media intake. Instead, start listening to spiritually uplifting hymns, talks, and messages. Many teens and youth have witnessed how posting scriptures and motivational quotes on their Facebook wall helps them to stay in spiritual bliss.
Use encouraging words to build and cheer, heal and restore, love and respect the people God has placed in our lives. Finally, use the tongue to THANK the Lord continually for His blessing upon our lives. May God grant us the grace to open our mouths to praise and glorify His name.
Stay in Grace. Stay with Jesus.
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