DIRTY--word or heart?

“It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words.” (Matthew 12:34, The Message)

Eugene Peterson has such profound ways of paraphrasing Biblical text sometimes!

I discovered this verse while reading a post about cussing Christians on Pam Hogewiede's blog. While this topic could easily spark heated debate about the morality of "clean" language, I was intrigued by some of the insights on Pam's post.

Here are some of my musings.

• Words have power, yet, they only have the power that we give them. In and of themselves, words are just neutral digits, morally speaking.
• If only I could learn to hear the real message of people's hearts behind their words?
• The coarse language people use may not always be the exact meaning of their hearts. Many times, coarse words are common cultural expressions for heart feelings that we all have, Christian and non-Christian alike.
• Would Jesus have ever found a piece of coarse language on His lips? (Let's not forget the crowd He hung out with a lot)
• Could "accepted" language ever be dirtier than coarse language?
  

Pam writes in her blog, "Mark Twain said it this way, 'The idea that no gentleman ever swears is all wrong. He can swear and still be a gentleman if he does it in a nice and benevolent and affectionate way.'"

Well, how's that to stir up one's "pure" mind on the first day of a brand new week?

Am I promoting coarse language? I don't think so! Just wrestling with an issue that I'm faced with and have been wondering about.

A concluding prayer: May my heart be filled with love so that whatever words I use, they will be tools carrying blessing to others.