Purity Series Day 2: Avoid Unwholesome Talk

Many times when we think about purity it is related to sexual purity. However, God’s word has much to say about purity in regards to our heart, mind and soul. God calls us to live a life that is holy and free from evil and wicked ways. Moral purity should be our ultimate goal as we pursue to live in a way that honours God and remembers the sacrifice of Jesus!

Avoiding Unwholesome Talk

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” (Ephesians 4:29)

“And they will know we are Christians by the words that we use.”

That’s not a literal translation of what Jesus said, but it does convey the common perception of the Church.  We spend a lot of time focusing on keeping our vocabulary clean.

Growing up in Sunday school, we were taught certain words were bad, and that good Christians should not use bad words.  In talking about explicit language, we were often pointed to the first part of Ephesians 4:29, “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths…”

We learned to change the way we speak.  We steered clear of music and other media that used “obscene” language. But, at the same time, we developed clever euphemisms that allowed us to say bad and hurtful things in ways that sounded more acceptable.  In so doing, we followed the letter of the law, but not the spirit, ignoring the second part of the verse which says, “…but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.” Like the Pharisees before us, many of us missed the point of this teaching completely.  While we should be careful with what we say, simply cleaning up our words doesn’t clean up our hearts.

Unwholesome talk is about more than how many four-letter words are in our vocabulary.  It’s about our heart attitudes, which, as Jesus points out in Luke 6:45, inevitably come out in how we talk. Too often, we use nice words to say cruel things.  Even “Bless his heart” can be used in a way that tears people down instead of building them up.  Some of us have a tendency to talk about things that aren’t our business.  We share things that we haven’t even confirmed to be true. Gossip is unwholesome.  It’s also sinful.  Any time we engage in a conversation where we seek to build ourselves up or make ourselves look good by making others look bad, it is unwholesome.

You see, the battle for the purity of the mouth starts in the heart.  The scripture tells us, “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a man, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” (Matthew 15:11)  For example, we make ourselves dirty when we gossip, speak badly about others and use obscene language.

Now if this battle begins in the heart, what does that tell us?  It tells us that our prayer should always be, “Create in me a clean heart, oh Lord, and renew a right spirit within me.”  Begin to ask the Lord to search you and transform your heart so that when you speak, you speak from a place of love.

Jesus attached a promise to purity.  His promise, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” (Matthew 5:8). I know that I want to see God, so if that means putting an end to everything that’s not pure in His eyes, then so be it. Do you want to see God?

Heart Check:

1. Take 5 minutes to ask the Lord to show up and search your heart. Ask Him to show you the things that you need to work on. Pray about those things.
2. What clever euphemisms have you developed that you need to do away with?

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