DOES OUR SPEECH MATTER?

Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone (Colossians 4:6).

The Lone Ranger was my favorite boyhood hero.  He always followed the law.  In one episode LR was put in jail even though he was innocent.  A friend had a key to the jail and opened the cell door for LR to escape, but LR told his friend to close the door and said, "This is not the way to justice."  Another characteristic of the Lone Ranger was that he always used perfect grammar and did not use slang or colloquialisms.  The writers of the Lone Ranger believed that good speech lifted people up and that poor speech made them perform less honorably.

My days as a youth worker and acting director at Midwest Christian Services, a residential treatment facility, pretty much confirmed what the Lone Ranger believed.  As a Christian institution, it was a matter of course that swearing was not allowed.  As a director, I was somewhat surprised to learn that the secular institutions didn't allow it either because of the negative effect it has on the culture of the institution.  There is more acting out and it is much more difficult to develop positive attitudes in the residents if negative speech is allowed; negative speech breeds more negativism.

One of the easiest things we can do to have a positive impact on the world around us is to clean up our language and learn how to express ourselves in creative and positive ways without resorting to crude, rude, obscene or profane language--it will make a difference.  Those who do not learn how to express themselves in positive speech are their own worst enemy because their language casts doubt on their character, their ability to lead and effectively communicate.  One's chances of success or failure are enhanced by the words he uses.  Our words are a window into our soul: For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34b).

Grace&Peace,
Tom