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Originally Posted by Puritanhead  I won't say anything else about yankees. I was being tongue-in-cheek.
Remember what the Apostle Paul told the Colossians, "Let your conversation always be with grace seasoned with salt. And what Paul told young Timothy: "But shun vain and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness..." I have fallen short in time's past. I can get carried away with humor. 
I have failed abysmally in time's past in trying to correct someone who neglected his conduct of speech. We should be careful how we rebuke others as well.
More importantly, it's good to realize that there are more dimensions to maintaining sound conduct of speech than just abstaining from cursing. Persons can abstain from cursing, and yet still be prone to offending others, gossip, or otherwise idle, unprofitable chatter. It's important not to let one's guard off on these matters.
My foolishness in time's past with speech has pierced me with many sorrows. |
You and me both. I re-live episodes of folly in my mind sometimes and shudder.
My problem is not that I regularly use such words in conversation but that my temper boils at times and a nature that I hate comes to the surface. It's a reminder of the sin that remains within me that I tolerate too much.
I like what you said about rebuke above, Ryan. I think there are some that always want to be reminding people of things and rebuking them for poor behavior. We are commanded to be long-suffering and that means cutting people a little slack if they slip up every now and again and trusting that God is sanctifying them if it's not a pattern of behavior.
It's a pet peave of mine but I think some are a bit too uptight sometimes when we're poking fun at one another and enjoying each other's company and one comes in who doesn't understand the group dynamic and intimates that we're all wasting our time on vain pursuits as if the Christian life is supposed to be all dour expressions and deep contemplation. I enjoy giving people a hard time that I know have fun with it. I always am careful not to make that my only interaction with them but it's fun to let people know you appreciate things with humor sometimes and brighten their day. That can be done without coarse jesting or speech that is not edifying.
Just yesterday, for instance, the Japanese wife of a friend of mine was cleaning dishes after a fellowship meal, which I very much appreciated because it meant we didn't have to wash them when we got hom. I remarked to her: "Boy Shizue, I'll have to tell all those people that you're not as mean as they thought you were." She knows me well enough that I've been extremely appreciative of her hard work in the past but she also knows I like to make people laugh. She took it exactly as intended and all the other ladies in the kitchen were laughing and giving it right back to me. Yet, there are some that might fold their arms and say: "That speech was not seasoned with love."
So I do appreciate this observation, Ryan, that we ought to be careful to always be running to reprove people. Such reproof needs to be discerning and long-suffering.