Generally, when Christians discuss “taming your tongue” two verses of scripture always come up… Exodus 20 (the Ten Commandments) and James 3 (where most English translations actually place the heading “Taming the Tongue”)

When most people hear the phrase Taming your tongue, or the phrase “don’t take  name of the Lord in vain” from Exodus 20:7, they immediately think of swearing or using vulgarities.

Now, I get it; no Christian wants to use a bunch of profanity. And many times we wake up in the morning and decide before getting out of bed, that we definitely will not use any vulgarities today… then, we stub our toe getting out of bed, and we’ve already failed!

While it can be somewhat disheartening when we experience a perceived failure, I believe that we are also missing a crucial point in these mentioned scriptures.

Now, I am not dismissing the desire to speak well without vulgarities— not at all. However what I am saying as that these scriptures are referring to something more, something deeper, and something much more potent, than merely coarse words; and this truth is what I want to share with you today. And as a special bonus, I believe that as we meditate on this truth together, it will have an effect on every area of your life— including your speech, but don’t focus on your speech, focus on the truth of Jesus.