Have you ever had one of those experiences when you’re speaking to somebody and begin to notice that their breath is bad? And not just bad, but really bad—so awful that you find yourself discreetly trying to step back to get out of the line of fire. Even as you do your best to remain polite and keep up the conversation, you find that your nose is rebelling and your stomach is turning. I think we’ve all been there at one time or another. I wonder if you’ve ever considered, though, that you can have that kind of stench emanate from your mouth when you misuse one of the most precious gifts God has given you.
In Ephesians 4:29 Paul says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths.” The word “corrupt” is the kind of word you’d use to describe a dead animal that has been lying out in the sun and decaying. It’s a vivid word that should make you feel a little bit gross inside. It’s the stench of bad breath and the stink of rotting flesh. And it’s meant to make you ponder the sheer horror of misusing an incredible ability God has given you—the ability to speak.
This corrupting talk that was so concerning to Paul is talk that is rotten and putrid. It tears people down by discouraging them, making them feel low, or diminishing their reputation in the eyes of other people. It is unsuitable to the current time or context so that even if it conveys facts that are true, this is not the time to relate those facts or not the person who should be told them. It is the kind of talk that in one way or another brings harm to those who hear it or who are the subject of it.
So it is undoubtedly worth pondering questions like these: Do you engage in corrupting talk? Do you speak to people in such a way that you deflate or discourage them, or even worse, that you insult or belittle them? Do you say things that may be factual but are unwise, or unnecessary, or unsuitable to the current context? In other words, when you speak to others, is it more like the smell of baking bread or the stench of rotting flesh? Does it satisfy people or revolt them, help them or hurt them, bless them or curse them?
Of course every negative admonition lies opposite to a positive commandment, and so Paul says to avoid corrupting talk but instead to speak “only such as is good for building up.” To build people up is to use your words to encourage their faith, to comfort their sorrows, to apply the gospel to their sins, to strengthen them for their task, to help them on their way. God means for you to speak in ways that are suitable for the occasion—to speak only the words that are true, only the words that are helpful, only the words that are appropriate, and only the words that are necessary. And why should you do all this? So that your words “may give grace to those who hear.”
This means that your words should be like a benediction, like a blessing…
Do you understand this ability and responsibility God has given to you? You can speak words that give grace! In fact, you must speak words that give grace! This means that your words should be like a benediction, like a blessing, so that when people walk away from a conversation with you they have heard something that makes them better and braver, that makes them more joyful and more sanctified. Instead of being dragged down they’ve been lifted up, instead of having their doubts increased they’ve had their faith strengthened, instead of leaving discouraged they have left encouraged, instead of becoming suspicious of people you’ve spoken about they’ve grown to respect them all the more. To give people grace through your words is to speak in such a way that they are bettered, that they gain some spiritual benefit. This is the power of words, the power God has given us in our speech.
Solomon says “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing” (Proverbs 12:18). So here at the beginning of a new year, a time when we are all a bit more introspective than usual, why don’t you take a few minutes to consider: Are your words like sword thrusts or are they like medicine? Do they cause pain or do they heal pain? Do your words bring death or do they bring life? In other words, do you allow corrupting talk to come out of your mouth, or only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear?
