“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).

Have you ever been talking to a young child when they use a word that you know they didn’t come up with on their own?

Perhaps they say “convenient” or “appropriate.” It just seems so out-of-place on the lips of a four- or five-year old.  They must have heard it somewhere.

I’ve heard small children use words that are so incredibly foul that you know they’ve picked them up from somewhere else. At the same time, I’ve heard children speak with such consistent kindness that you know they must be surrounded by people who use supportive words.

We pick stuff up, almost by osmosis—ideas, habits, and words.

In Christ, we are God’s children. We can do the same things. We learn to speak based on how our heavenly Father has spoken to us—that is, if we’re listening and paying attention. Dietrich Bonhoeffer commented on this when he said: “The child learns to speak because his father speaks to him. He learns the speech of his father.”*

So how does our Father speak to us? He speaks to us with grace and truth. He speaks to us with goodness and integrity.

Since those are the kinds of things that we have come to know in our hearts, those are the kinds of things we start to say with our lips. That’s the double benefit. Not only do we learn about who God is and what he does, but he models the grace and truth that we should be sharing with others.

Let’s so immerse ourselves in God’s words of grace and truth, that they become—almost by osmosis—a part of our D.N.A. When we have received words of grace and truth, we will know words of grace and truth, and therefore share words of grace and truth. 

We learn to speak based on how our heavenly Father has spoken to us—that is, if we’re listening and paying attention.

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

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Notes:

–*Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1970), 11.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.