“The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but gracious words are pure.” – Proverbs 15:26
Dean suggested last Sunday that one way to show sacrificial love was to “sacrifice that juicy tidbit to point the conversation in a positive direction, and say about others what you would want them to say about you.” That resonated with me. I struggle sometimes, not so much with malicious gossip, but the urge to pass along some annoying interaction or impression. When I struggle with a mom at school, I feel tempted to tell another mom who has also had issues with her. When a personality, opinion, or style of doing things challenges me, I’m tempted to vent to someone more similar to me in those areas. What I am really seeking is validation and sympathy for my annoyance. Maybe mixed in is some genuine openness to advice or desire to be understood, but mostly I want to have an audience to air my grievances. I care more about that than what kind of impression I could be spreading about someone.
The word “pure” has two main meanings. It can mean clean, as in not filthy or dirty, including the idea of ceremonial or Levitical purity, being unsullied before a holy God: “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:27). It can mean unmixed or unalloyed, single, without hypocrisy, without folds, open, nothing hidden. This gets at the idea of true sincerity, being single-minded, having single-eyed devotion: “unite my heart to fear thy name” (Psalm 86:11).
Gracious words are pure. They safeguard us from being dirtied by the sin of complaint or judgment, and they safeguard the reputation of others. Have you noticed that there is a kind of power or reality that is birthed when you speak your thoughts out loud? We may have abominable thoughts, but we can still guard our words; sometimes we are able to stop patterns of sinful thinking by changing what we say. Gracious words also do not give room for division or hypocrisy; they keep our selfishness from creeping in and spreading to others by example.
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths,” Paul says in Ephesians 4:29, “but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Gracious words are those that give grace. They come at a cost: after all, the grace Jesus gives us, though free, is costly. Do I desire purity of substance and heart before God? Am I willing to give up my own rights or comforts or sinful tendencies, so that I can give others the grace I myself have received, through my words?
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