My great granddaughter turned 3 years old a few days ago, and as birthdays tend to do, it caused me to think about how time slips by so quickly.
An urban legend says that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if it is put in warm water that is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not notice the danger and will be cooked to death.
Little by little we adjust to and accept things – like the frog in a pot of boiling water story. They build up so slowly that they are barely noted, if perceived at all.
Society accepts things previously considered “offlimits” or wrong, and before we realize what is happening, we have become like-minded.
When I was young there was no bad language tolerated from us kids, and we didn’t hear it from our parents either. By the time I was nearing the end of high school, a few of those previously unused words and phrases had crept in somehow and become part of my everyday conversation.
My mother would say, “it isn’t ladylike!” It wasn’t a huge amount, and not near as nasty and vulgar as what is common today, but it had come to roost, nevertheless. Besides “everybody” at school was saying such things, so how bad could it be anyway?
When I was 20, I met Jesus. And because of that, the Bible (which I had never really read, aside from the verses in my Sunday school lessons), became much more interesting. I read it hungrily. It wasn’t long before I foundTitus 2: 6- 8.
“Likewise urge the young men to be sensible; in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will not be put to shame, h a v i n g nothing bad to say about us.”
( NASB) I became suddenly aware that there was a whole lot more to this born-again experience I had just embraced than I realized.
I asked the Lord’s help cleaning up my potty mouth. He did, of course, and I had my first experience praying for something specific and seeing that prayer answered.
My mind lingered upon the thought of how easily unclean words and phrases had slipped into my family. My next thought was, how many other things have somehow become “okay” in my life and my attitude?