Spoken with an evil intent, cursing words are words meant to inflict harm.  When we hear them as an adult, we do better at sifting them through the grid of God’s Word. Though they momentarily wound us, we know that we should not own them.  If we know Jesus well enough, we will know not to repay evil for evil and retort with cursing words of our own.  We will know to forgive and bless, the very opposite of what we want to do.  Our love for Jesus, and remembering how radically He forgave us, overrides our flesh. 

The reason I have included cursing words as a blind spot, however, is because we heard the most destructive cursing words as children. They were insults delivered by parents, relatives and friends.  

“You’re always in my way.”

“You were a surprise baby. We never wanted another child.”

“You are stupid.”

You’ll never be as successful as your brother.”

You can fill in the blanks now from personal experience, right?  Because the nature of children is to believe what they are told, the words stick.  They define our self-concept and we live out their predictions. 

Cursing words will continue to impact us until we decide to quit owning them, forgive the ones who spoke them, and ask Jesus to wash the effects from our hearts and minds.  Cursing words will quit harming us if we choose to believe God over the ones who spoke with cruelty.  As children, we accumulated opinions, judgments, and biases that were not of the kingdom.  We didn’t know that what proceeds out of the heart of imperfect people can be utter foolishness, leading us into darkness.  

What comments, nicknames, or insults still define and torment you – to this day?  Isn’t it time to shed the judgements, to believe what God says over what people said?   Ask your divine Counselor to help you work through the hurt and then help you forgive.  After you relinquish your right to make them pay, bask in the scriptures and ask Him to write the beautiful realities of your identity in Christ into the fabric of your heart.  

Like a flitting sparrow or a fluttering swallow, an undeserved curse goes nowhere. Proverbs 26:2