Tuesday, July 5, 2011

No Corrupt Communication

 
Oh, crap!

I don't freakin' know!

How often do we say things like this? I know I've been guilty of more than my fair share of verbal slip-ups...and ones even less tame than that!

One day I was going about my business, when I tripped on a toy or something, and something awful came out of my mouth.

Holy Spirit brought the Scripture to my remembrance from Ephesians 4:29-

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.

I was stopped in my tracks. For the first several years of being a Christian, I really didn't have any issues getting over changing my speech patterns. Gone were curse words, I didn't talk about ungodly things like I once did before Christ. Now, years later, when I should know better, I was embracing angry speech, and just letting whatever fell into my brain instantly fall out of my mouth as well.

The root of the word "corrupt" means "broken in pieces." Immediately I think of how this indicates the state of my heart. We all know our words come from the heart, right? Not broken in pieces in the sense of emotional heartbreak or anything like that, but broken in pieces as in unwholesome or lacking integrity. Faulty. Defective.

Wow.

But thanks be to God, there is a way of escape! (1 Corinthians 10:13) And that is through repentance:

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

I repented, and God has cleansed me, and given me the grace to stop myself before I continued down the path of corrupt communication. Before I sowed unwholesome speech into the hearts of my lovely children. He showed me the error of my words, and filled in the cracks in my heart with His love!

I love that when we are humble enough to ask for His help, He freely gives it!

What has helped you avoid corrupt communication?

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