I was sitting on the front steps of the chapel last night (Wednesday), talking with some of our students. Another of them roared around the corner, and then said, “I almost cussed! I didn’t know you were out here, Mr. Steve.”
It seemed like a good time to continue with that topic. “Do any of you think you could go an entire day without cussing?”
A couple asked if that included certain words – they gave me the examples. Both examples were words that could be used other than as cusswords. Neither of them said they had ever used them otherwise. One of these words was “hell.” Of course, as a preacher, I could use the word “hell” a lot without actually cussing.
That would have been the easy way out. I mentioned that some people say “heck” instead of “hell” because in their minds “heck” isn’t cussing.
But Jesus has something different in mind for us. I believe that for Jesus, it really isn’t about which words we choose: we aren’t better off for saying “What the heck” than “What the hell.” Jesus goes deeper than this, and want to get to whatever it is that is in our hearts, and heal the wounds there.
When our hearts begin to find the healing Jesus offers, we begin to find less occasions in which we even feel like cussing.
How’s your heart? The condition of our hearts affect how we deal with our youth.
May your heart find peace and hope in the healing offered by Jesus Christ.
2 Comments
October 3, 2008 at 6:07 am
i couldn’t agree more! i’ve had this discussion several times…with all age groups. there is an aspect of being respectful in the selection of our words, but the more important issue is our hearts. what are our intentions behind our words and phrases?
October 10, 2008 at 4:43 am
I remember when Joel worked with the summer staff at camp. They weren’t allowed to say s*cks or cr*p around the campers. So around themselves they would say “This s*cks cr*p.”
Not really cuss words, you get the picture.