Taming the Tongue

Sherron and I love to go on vacation to Charleston, South Carolina. We especially enjoy taking guided tours through this beautiful city to learn more about its rich history. One of our favorite places to spend time is around the old Slave Market area. We like it because this part of town presents numerous shopping opportunities for Sherron and plenty of eating opportunities for me. While taking one of the tours, we learned that the term “Slave Market” is very misleading for visitors. It implies that this was a place where slaves were sold and purchased. That is not the case. In fact, there are no historical records of the slave trade ever being conducted at this centuries old market.

The Slave Market earned its name for a less ominous reason. It was a typical outdoor market where people would go to purchase food and household items for their homes. Along with this came a multitude of butcher stands that provided meat and poultry for the shoppers. Because there were no strict sanitation laws in that day, the butchers simply discarded the blood and animal parts that they could not sell onto the roadside. You can imagine that in the summer heat of Charleston, it did not take long for these leftovers to turn into a rancid stinking mess! They say the odor was so bad that slave owners would not go to the market themselves but rather, send their slaves to endure the nauseating experience, hence, “The Slave Market.”

I share this historical account because it may help us to gain a better understanding of a biblical Greek word. The word is "sapros" and it means rotten, decayed, or putrefied. It was used in New Testament times when someone was describing meat or vegetables that were in the last stages of decomposition, such as existed around the Charleston Slave Market. It is the word Paul uses in Ephesians 4:29 when he says “Let no corrupt (sapros) word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, uses a very graphic word to describe speech that is less than edifying and that does not “impart grace to the hearers.”

Corrupt words include, but are not limited to, cursing or taking the Lord’s name in vain. They also include words spoken with a bitter spirit, angry words, hurtful words, impatient words, gossip, slander, lying, exaggeration, and the like. Imagine, God describes the language that many Christians have trouble controlling, as being like rotten, rancid meat in His sight. If we would only have the same level of disgust that God has when we use “corrupt” words, maybe we would be more diligent in following Colossians 4:6 which states “Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.”

I wanted to share these thoughts here on the Family Ministry Blog because I believe the home is the environment where we are most likely to experience the deepest struggle. Why? Home is the place where our patience can be tested on almost a daily basis. It is the place where we will most easily let our guard down and allow our emotions to take control. It is the place where we are most easily tempted to justify ourselves when we fail to follow through on a commitment. In short, it is the place where, if we are not careful, we can lose control of our tongues.

Most of the time, you will not have to cope with earth shattering events in the home. You will however, experience daily inconveniences and frustrations that can eventually get the best of you. If you are not abiding in Christ and trusting the Holy Spirit to produce His fruit in you, those daily difficulties may cause you to slip into the habit of using unwholesome speech. When this happens, it can be extremely harmful to your marriage and to your relationship with your children. It also teaches your children that it is alright to say harmful things when they get upset.

Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Are you sensitive to the words you use? Do you use your words to build up and breathe life into your family members? If not, may I suggest that you spend time with the Lord in repentance? Ask Him to supply all the resources you need to overcome the fleshly temptation to use language that hurts and tears down.

David