Blankety-blanks: Mostly Blanks
Theme of the Week: Watch Your Language
Jeffrey Leever
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
 1 of 1
Key Bible Verse: The godly think before speaking; the wicked spout evil words (Proverbs 15:28). Bonus Reading: Proverbs 15:26;Matthew 5:22
Awhile back, I stopped cussin'," says former heavyweight boxing champ George Foreman, now best known for his Foreman cooking grills and as pastor of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ in Houston. "I never even slip anymore," Foreman declares.
But for many men, word choice is a struggle. Foreman told Esquire magazine that the turning point came as he watched fellow boxer Sonny Liston. "Most of the time Sonny wouldn't speak at all. He'd just stare right through you. When he did speak, his sentences were filled with blankety-blanks." Later, Foreman learned that Liston didn't know how to read. "I found that cussin' is a way for people to conceal their insecurities. It's a cover-up, a way to represent fierceness or courage." Do you lash out verbally to cover up inner issues? True courage comes in living the way God asks us in a world with many false models of manhood—tough guy talk included.
"I watched Sonny around a lot of people," Foreman adds. "I found there were some folks he didn't cuss around." Does the "clean quotient" of your speech vary according to the audience? Then ask yourself: Will anyone whose opinion I truly value care if what I say doesn't sound quite so tough?
—Jeffrey Leever in Colorado
My Response: Do "macho" and "pure" go together in my mind? Why or why not?
Thought to Apply: Profanity fixes the other person's attention on my words rather than my thoughts.—HUGH PRATHER (minister, author)
Adapted from The 7 Secrets of Effective Fathers (Tyndale, 1992) by permission.
Copyright © 2005 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine. Click here for reprint information on Men of Integrity. 1 of 1
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Take control of what I say, O Lord, and keep my lips sealed. —Psalm 141:3
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