Tag: Cussing

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We are what we speak.

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Fine speech is not becoming to a fool; still less is false speech to a prince. Proverbs‬ ‭17‬:‭7‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Proverbs is so good at comparing and contrasting concepts and character. ESV (English Standard Version) translation captures the punny play on words here, with the words “fine” and “false.” In this little proverb, there is a lot of truth packed into the words and rhythm of speaking it out loud. Just say the words, fine, fool and false out loud.

Words that describe us as humans, are a glimpse of our character, and become pretty sticky and consistent over time. In other words, people get to know us by our words. And, either the words we use match our behaviors, or they don’t – both outcomes are very telling!

The wisdom writers point out that you should not hear trash-talk coming from true royalty, or a leader for example. They use the comparison between a fool (nabel: wicked, stupidly evil – used 18 times in the Old Testament, only 3 of those in Proverbs), and a Prince. They juxtapose “nabel” with “nadib.” Nadib is used for nobility, a prince, a leader. The word Prince means one who generously incites to good. The noble lips drip with “yether,” abundant excellence, the evil fool with “sheqer,” lies and deception.

Does our character define our vocabulary or do our words define our character?

Rant warning! Is it just me or has there been a massive increase in public potty mouth? It’s not just F-bombs either. Folks used to apologize for potty-mouth words! My grandmother was a cusser. She would would go off with a Sailor’s string of profanity, but often end with “excuse my french.” I didn’t think those words sounded French, nor did I know if the French were constantly using swear words in their country. We have lost our “ability of civility” to control our potty mouths! It’s just not cute to hear a five year old drop F, S, or B words in casual kindergarten conversation! The only reason swearing isn’t on “public” television or “OTA” (over the air), is because the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) fortunately, still makes it illegal. Cable, satellite and streaming are not held to any standards even though the content is sent directly to homes with children watching! BTW, it’s ridiculous that somehow “Christian” freedom has been cited for believers to sound like trashy potty-mouths! End of rant.

Proverb’s wisdom still speaks today! The trust in leaders has been completely eroded away in our culture! We know that when a politician, media spokesperson or anyone defending themselves in the spotlight opens their mouth they are LYING. Do we want good character? Then we should should quit sounding like fools!

Prayer

Dad,
Oh my goodness, we’ve got ourselves is a mess! It’s a mess that only you can resolve. Help us O’ God. We ask for your forgiveness, your mercy. As we yield to you, renew and restore our sense of right vs wrong, truth vs lies, good words vs evil ones. We cry out to you. Lord, hear our prayer.

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Roommates

Reading Time: 2 minutes

“I, Wisdom, live together with good judgment. I know where to discover knowledge and discernment. All who fear the Lord will hate evil. Therefore, I hate pride and arrogance, corruption and perverse speech. Common sense and success belong to me. Insight and strength are mine.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭8‬:‭12‬-‭14‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The New Living Translation says that wisdom and good judgment are roommates. In Hebrew, the wisdom writer actually list three roomies with wisdom: ormah: craftiness, daath: knowledge and mezimmah: discretion. The root word of daath is yada, or know. Who knew, when George’s new girlfriend Marcy, from the Seinfeld show, kept saying yada, yada, yada, she was speaking some Hebraic slang… “ya know, ya know, ya know.”

As the personified Jesus in the Old Testament, wisdom loves hanging out with three character traits of witty, smart and socially intelligent people. What a group of friends that makes, right? However, the writer also seem to make the point that, not only does that God hate evil, but there is a reason for doing so. Evil erodes good. Evil sucks the vibrant, authentic life out of the soul and leaves these hollowed out expressions behind. Shocker! Look at what’s left when evil has its way with us – pride, arrogance, corruption and perverse speech!

Wow. Pride is a false puffer, the rising of our fake self. Arrogance is our “self-made” projection, like we made it all on our own, everyone else is our pawn. And our perverse speech is a mastery of speaking in a way that “turns” or twists our words to hide the fact that we are a fraud. Whew. Evil guts us and leaves our soul with ugly, selfish qualities.

Turning from evil to wisdom means we choose to hangout with these amazing roommates listed in this Proverb. The Apostle Paul wrote, “bad company corrupts good morals.” 1 Cor. 15:33. Having wisdom as a friend means that one has access to her advice. Because Wisdom is really that good, her advice is sound, solid and successful! Wisdom owns these qualities and shares them freely to those who walk with her.

Prayer

Dad,
If we just learned from mistakes and missteps, things would be a whole lot easier to do right. We would benefit and so would everyone around us. The problem is I love doing things my own way and I come to think of myself as so independently smart. And, I also love taking shortcuts! What a mess I make of things. The ways of wisdom, which is the way of Jesus, not only requires humility but also submission. And it’s a slow process, nothing like my quick-fix shortcuts that fail every time. I want wisdom as a friend. I want to hangout with her friends, witty, smart and socially intelligent. I could use all the help I can get. Thank You!

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And lightning didn’t strike.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“Think again, you fools! When will you finally catch on? Is he deaf—the one who made your ears? Is he blind—the one who formed your eyes? He punishes the nations—won’t he also punish you? He knows everything—doesn’t he also know what you are doing? The Lord knows people’s thoughts; he knows they are worthless!” Psalms‬ ‭94:8-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The Psalmist reminds me of something I think we forget about.

Just because God doesn’t immediately smite us for horrendous behavior does not mean we got or will get away with it!

God’s spokespersons (prophets) wrote about this all the time. Prior to this verse, he writes, “They kill widows and foreigners and murder orphans. “The Lord isn’t looking,” they say, “and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.” It’s odd that every FIRST act of violence, betrayal, or dishonesty has a moment of expectation that surely someone is watching and there will be swift and severe consequences for our actions. Nope. Rarely does that happen. And because we think we get away with it, the next dastardly deed is easier to do.

When I was in middle school I was walking home and chose the route that went through our school sports field. It was huge. As I walked I decided to see what would happened when I spoke a curse word out loud. My family was big time cussers and creatively used crass words in combinations that seemed to amplify their coarse effect on my ears. I had never cursed up to that point. Oh, most of my friends cursed like sailor siblings, but I didn’t. So out in the field I let it rip, yelling the word SH*T to the sky. I was not a follower of Jesus, but as you could tell, I did believe in God. What kept me from cussing all this time? One, my parents didn’t lead a great example in good behavior – smokers, drinkers, gamblers, and cursers. I didn’t really want to be like them. But two, I thought God could see and hear everything I did and would swiftly punish me for stepping out of line. Where’d I get that idea? I don’t know. Maybe a few Sunday School stories put that thought in my head. As I yelled out in the open, empty field, expecting a thunderclap and possibly lightning of God disapproving of my language, I just waited in silence. What? No lightning, no response from heaven? Nothing. In my little grand example of an experiment, I did think, “He’s not listening or does not care.” I was disappointed. I didn’t think it was all that “cool” to curse. I didn’t feel older, more mature or even more like a “bad boy.” I felt nothing. I decided in that field that day that cursing is really stupid and that I would never participate in it. My mother did tell me one time, “only uneducated people curse.” Whoa. That was odd hearing her say that. She explained that educated people use words that are far more effective than just grabbing a cheap, crass curse word. I never forgot that.

The point of the psalmist and of the prophets is this, just because God doesn’t immediately respond doesn’t mean he doesn’t hear, see or know what we are doing. He is neither threatened nor impressed with our creative ability to do evil. It simply breaks his heart to see us wallowing in our own stupidity. Sorry for the using the preschooler curse word, “stupid” so much, “stupid is as stupid does,” someone once said 😀.

Prayer

Dad,
This is the way it goes. Life and living is amazing! However, carrying, managing or trying to get away from our own sin, brokenness, and weakness is really hard and honestly, pretty crummy. I know you see, hear and know all and now that I’ve committed my entire life and future to you, it’s still embarrassing 😳. Of course I am thankful for your grace, mercy and most of all your patience.