How to Train Your Mouth!

So around our youth group, we have a sometimes controversial rule:

If filth comes out of your mouth, we make you do 10 pushups per filthy word.

It’s been a great rule so far. A lot of the time, we hear “why do we have to do that anyway?” Kids are looking for the reason… so….

Here are 10!

Ephesians 4:29: “Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” NLT
Swearing doesn’t make you sound tough, it makes you sound stupid!
Using clean language makes you seem classier
Swearing in church is considered an act of disrespect towards God
“Profanity is the last refuge of the uncreative”- get creative with your colorful language. One semester at Bible college, we used the word “pants.” It was hilarious!
Swearing is not a productive form of problem solving
Swearing gets you in trouble
You don’t have to censor yourself around people if you use clean language all the time-
People will notice you because you are different- seriously!
You have influence with other people! Just think, would you want your little bro or sis to copy what comes out of your mouth? If you don’t have a younger sibling, what about that junior high kid at youth that looks up to you? Or you friend’s little bro or sis.

Soooo…

Those are our reasons for dishing out the pushups.

There are a few other things you can do to quit swearing too!

Ask your friends/family to point out when you swear- ask your friends you punch you really hard whenever you do (lol!)
Start a swear jar in your home and become faithful to it – bonus points if your siblings get the money… you’ll be extra motivated!
Put a rubber band on your wrist and snap yourself
Come up with your own list of reasons why swearing is stupid and read it daily
Hang around people who use clean language (it rubs off on you, really! The opposite is also true- if you hang with people who are very vulgar, you start talking like them)
Google the topic and become informed about the subject matter!
Do your pushups diligently at neXus if you’re caught!
Decide that you want to become a better person and accept responsibility for the words that come out of your mouth
Think before you speak
Decide that you only want to speak good and uplifting things about yourself and others.

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2 Comments Add your own

1. Dealing With Conflict « Adventures in Youth Ministry! | August 12, 2010 at 4:31 pm

[...] at her favorite Starbucks and overhears people she knows saying words that would deserve about 150 push ups in the [...]
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2. Tim | August 13, 2010 at 9:28 am

As someone who believe it or not had a big prolem with foul language when I first joined the army I can say from experance that it may be hard to quite swearing however it is really worth it. While all of the points Terrin makes are very good, reasons #2 and #3 are very true, and #9 is especially true (even if it doesn’t seem like it at first) as well… people will notice when you stop and respect you for it even in a place where foul language is the norm and expected. Good post Terrin….
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