Cursing and $h*t

On my walk this morning, I heard a young man talking to another young man. They were using a lot of profanity. My radar went up, and I immediately judged that they weren't "nice" young men. And God immediately called me out. He was a lot less concerned about their "language" than He was my thoughts toward them which were anything but grace-full.


I'm sure I'm not the only one (if we're being honest) who makes these snap judgments. (Let's see a show of hands...)

Some people won't type or write the word God. They put a dash or asterisk in the middle, like this: G-d. They believe that His name is so Holy that writing it would be desecrating it. But then is that read aloud as "GD"? Because if it is, other people would think you were using the acronym for "Goddamn" which is really bad.

I said "crap" from the pulpit during a sermon once. I honestly didn't think "crap" was a "bad word" but the pastor's wife thought differently.

Sometimes I say "shit" when I stub my toe. I know I'm not a bad person. I know Jesus loves me. You might think otherwise though.

I know so many people who use "colorful" language...so many good, kind, loving people. So why in the hell do I judge those I don't know? (See what I did there?)

I used to judge people who smoke cigarettes. Which is absolutely insane. My Dad smoked all his life. He was an amazing guy. I have kids who smoke. Again, amazing guys. I used to smoke. And we all know how amazing I am! But my immediate judgment when I'd see someone smoking was that they are lower on the food chain because it is such a stupid addiction, therefore they must be stupid. I'm happy to report that got over that judgment. But first I had to acknowledge it was there...

Cursing. There is acceptable cursing and then the unacceptable stuff. We all have our lines we draw. (Well, all of us who are still tormented by the judgment radar thingy...)

But when I really think about it from a heavenly perspective, what kind of cursing is God concerned with? I think He hates it when we curse other people...with slander and gossip...or by wishing them ill-will. I'm not sure He loves it when we call the guy who changed lanes in front of us an idiot. Yet this kind of cursing happens within circles of people who would never utter a four-letter word.

It's stupid, really...all of this judging. It is so wasteful and not life-giving. But it is something that dammit, we all do...
I'm working on it. Better yet, God is working on me.