Is it really cool to cuss??

Today I asked my three year old to make an angry face for me to use to illustrate this message; a photograph depicting anger, a reason someone might cuss - But as you can see from the picture, this is his angriest face - still a hint of a smile - praise God. It dawned on me that my three year old could not even pretended to be hateful. That's not to say he's never been angry, let's be realistic, he has a little sister! My point is that he is not at an age yet where he even realizes how to feign anger.

I have heard many Christians cussing over the years - myself included - but that begs the question - IS IT OK FOR CHRISTIANS TO USE CURSE WORDS? The answer quite simply is NO, of course not. I believe there are only two reasons Christians cuss:

1) Because they can not control their temper -
2) Because they think it's cool -

There really is no other reason Christians cuss. But what does God say about cussing, swearing, cursing, and other bad words?

Ephesians 4:29 - "Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use and edifying that it might minister grace unto the hearers."

James 1:21 - "Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and [abundance] of naughtiness, and receive with [gentelness] the engrafted word, which is able to save your soul."

Well, there doesn't really seem to be very much wiggle room for those of us who cuss, but what if you can't help it? What if you just loose your temper and say bad words? What does God say about us?

Well, according to Webster, the word Temper is defined as a "disposition of mind" - to lose your temper is literally "to lose your mind"! There are several verses focused on how and why to control your temper, but my favorite is this - James 1:19 - "My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, (20) "for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

The next time you feel yourself getting angry think about James 1:19-20. This is an awesome example of how to use Gods Word to heal yourslef of anger. If you can learn to control your anger, then you can learn to control your language - If you're cussing just to be cool - You are what you speak - how cool is that?