How's Your Speech?
By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None of His Benefits:
“Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only such a word that is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear.”– Ephesians 4:29
In January, 1932, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and within seven years had plunged the world into the most horrible war yet, a war which would eventually kill 100 million people. One of the most powerful tools Hitler used to bring such death was his public speeches in which he preached an intense nationalism, Aryan supremacy, and anti-Semitism. By late May, 1940, the Nazi’s had overrun Belgium and the Netherlands and were well on their way to conquering France as well. By that time England had had enough of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policies and appointed Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. By late June, less than one month after taking office, Churchill gave three of his most famous speeches—his blood, toil, tears, and sweat speech, his we will fight on the beaches speech, and his finest hour speech. The last paragraph of this June 18, 1940 speech says, “Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”
I have always marveled at how the words of these powerful men were used, on the one hand to bring destruction and on other hand to bring courage and resolve. Paul the Apostle, in the verse mentioned above, is calling the Ephesian believers to realize their speech is never neutral. It either builds up or tears down. Literally in the Greek text, for the sake of emphasis Paul says, “Putrid words out of your mouth yourself put them away.” By “putrid” words Paul does not necessarily mean profane, vile, lascivious words. He takes that up in Ephesians 5:4. He means any words which are harmful. A hunter coming upon a deer that has died from natural causes will not take that deer home, gut it, and eat it. It is not that this is merely distasteful, unwise, or unpleasant. It is downright harmful. Putrifaction has set in on the deer. Death is in the carcass. Sewage seeping into the local swimming pool is not merely unpleasant or distasteful. It is unhealthy for all who swim in it. Proverbs 18:6 says that a fool’s lips bring strife and his mouth brings destruction. Harmful, putrid words are anything you say which are not edifying, anything which does not build up, inspire, or bring grace to those who hear.
In January, 1932, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and within seven years had plunged the world into the most horrible war yet, a war which would eventually kill 100 million people. One of the most powerful tools Hitler used to bring such death was his public speeches in which he preached an intense nationalism, Aryan supremacy, and anti-Semitism. By late May, 1940, the Nazi’s had overrun Belgium and the Netherlands and were well on their way to conquering France as well. By that time England had had enough of Neville Chamberlain’s appeasement policies and appointed Winston Churchill as Prime Minister. By late June, less than one month after taking office, Churchill gave three of his most famous speeches—his blood, toil, tears, and sweat speech, his we will fight on the beaches speech, and his finest hour speech. The last paragraph of this June 18, 1940 speech says, “Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him all Europe may be freed and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new dark age, made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, ‘This was their finest hour.’”
I have always marveled at how the words of these powerful men were used, on the one hand to bring destruction and on other hand to bring courage and resolve. Paul the Apostle, in the verse mentioned above, is calling the Ephesian believers to realize their speech is never neutral. It either builds up or tears down. Literally in the Greek text, for the sake of emphasis Paul says, “Putrid words out of your mouth yourself put them away.” By “putrid” words Paul does not necessarily mean profane, vile, lascivious words. He takes that up in Ephesians 5:4. He means any words which are harmful. A hunter coming upon a deer that has died from natural causes will not take that deer home, gut it, and eat it. It is not that this is merely distasteful, unwise, or unpleasant. It is downright harmful. Putrifaction has set in on the deer. Death is in the carcass. Sewage seeping into the local swimming pool is not merely unpleasant or distasteful. It is unhealthy for all who swim in it. Proverbs 18:6 says that a fool’s lips bring strife and his mouth brings destruction. Harmful, putrid words are anything you say which are not edifying, anything which does not build up, inspire, or bring grace to those who hear.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please feel free to comment, but profanity, anti-Christian or argumentative comments will not be published. Thank you, ed.