For me cussing is still a habit to break. And I come from
a family where swearing meant grounding and no TV. Even
‘darn’ made their not-in-this-house list.
Now I’m a faithful churchgoer, a S.O.B.I. student, and determined to spend as much time as possible thinking on
things true, pure and lovely.
Yet, when I hit my finger with a hammer, I don’t say ‘ouch,’
I say #!&%@#! Why? What demons are invading my spirit?
The first temptation is anger. “We were by nature the
children of wrath.” (Eph. 2: 30) When I get mad, four-
letter words back up my flesh, which seems so righteous,
and “jerk and idiot” just don’t cut it. Wrath justifies
the big bad words, right?
The next temptation is ‘cool.’ Everybody does it, and I
want to fit in. Doesn’t an “F” bomb make me hip, slick
and cool?
The final temptation is fear. I rage at a driver who cuts
into my lane ‘cause I’m right and he’s wrong! But isn’t it really that I’m afraid he might hurt me? So I can let off steam, can’t I?
No. Not that way. Imagine a heart that doesn’t rush to cussing, even silently. For me there would be extra space
for joy, work, and play. Errands wouldn’t be chores with
all those other #%&*!#*s who need a piece of my mind. Imag-
ine that piece of your mind back: calm and sane.
“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
(2 Cor. 5:17)
Eda Zahl (S.O.B.I Student)
