Unworthiness & Unclean Speech

    Ah, Sunday! The holy day which most of us have spent the morning or afternoon at our churches, singing praises to God, and listening to the pastor's sermon. This is probably my favorite day of the week; you get to see all your Christian friends and have fellowship with them, praying to God together with hearts united.
    While we all love God, and of course we know that God loves us, there is an increasing number of Christians---mostly teenagers such as myself---who think that's all that matters. They go home and curse and swear and lie and think un-Godly thoughts to the point where it would make others wonder, "Why do they bother attending church if they don't even learn anything about changing their sinful ways?"
    The response would probably be, "Don't judge! God still loves me no matter what I do. I've asked for forgiveness of my sins. I'll still go to Heaven. That's all that counts."
    This is, in fact, a bad answer for a Christian to reply with. Yes, if we've asked for God's forgiveness and if we accept Jesus as our Savior we'll have a place in Heaven, but think about it: As a Christian, shouldn't we WANT to do the best we can to stop swearing, cursing, telling dirty jokes, and everything else He considers unholy? Shouldn't this be our greatest desire, to please Him with all we do while we're still here on earth? This doesn't mean we'll never make mistakes; we all will. But I've met some people who think it's worthless to even try to change. Let me tell you, I've been to the Youth Groups here in my town. I'm thirteen years old, and I've never been more disgusted by the language and laziness of the other teenagers who form these organizations. They think it's okay to interrupt our leaders when they're in the middle of speaking. They think it's perfectly fine to blaspheme in the privacy of their own homes, and believe coarse joking is completely harmless. I, by no means, am perfect when it comes to the matter, but consider the following verse: "Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks." (Ephesians 5:4) This states clearly that God wants us to praise Him rather than speak sinfully, no matter how "funny" it may seem.
    Many teens these days, Christian or no Christian, dismiss this, however. We don't like to believe that even though God's love is unconditional, He wants us to continually seek Him by striving to improve our sinful behavior. We don't like to believe that consequence accompanies sin, especially when the sin is something as seemingly meager as unclean speech. We have too little respect for God because we think of Him too much as a friend---but He is more than that. His greatness is beyond our minds... No friend has as much power and love as He does. Honestly, out of how many sins and mistakes we make each day, and for Him, the Perfect Lord, to allow US to pray to him and be in His church... It's amazing. We deserve not even a bit of it. He has the choice to let us be with Him, and even after all our sin, He lets us. It makes you think just how unworthy we are, doesn't it?
    My Christian friends, I hope we can remember this throughout the week and all the weeks to come; not just Sunday. Let us think about this every time we prepare to disrespect others. Let us think about this every time we deny that we've sinned. Let us think about this every time unclean speech bubbles behind our lips. Think of this always. God bless.
                                                  
                                                                         Danielle Forrester