I think this might be the verse you're referring to though:
Matthew 12:33-37 “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
But if you read that in context you see that the words said, come from what's inside us. That isn't a very comforting thought--at least not to me; that even after many years of doing my best to make sure that I only listened to godly music, of studying His Word daily, and spending time with Him daily, that all of that couldn't "erase" the many more years of sinful living that were stored inside of me.
Of course, I know that won't be entirely wiped out until we get our new bodies, but that doesn't mean we should sit around waiting and doing nothing to correct it as much as possible now. Jesus actually talked about this a great deal--(about it being what's on the inside of us that is important, and that's what needs to be cleaned up.) So what I'm saying is that if it's what's inside of us that's the cause of these "words", then we actually have to attack this on two fronts: First the obvious front which is the words themselves, by stopping to use them; and the Second is by looking inside with the Lord's help to discover what it is inside us that we need to work on with His help.
Here's one place where the Lord talks about this that I think we're all familiar with; it shows that it's not so much the looking that's wrong, it's what is causing him to look--what's inside him:
Matthew 5:27-28 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Here's another one where He's talking to the pharisees and telling them too that it's not just what you do that the world sees that's important, it's what's in your heart, what's inside you that's important:
Matthew 23:25-26 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.
When He tells them to first clean the inside of the cup and dish, He's of course speaking of them cleaning up what's inside themselves first, because if they do that, then they will no longer have to worry about what the world sees, since they will be clean and will therefore automatically bring forth good fruit.
So if we just stop swearing and using bad words, or just change which words we use when we want to swear, we would be trying to make ourselves look good on the outside, just like the pharisees did. We don't want to do that, we want to be real, be ourselves, but not our "old selves". We want to be the people that the Lord saved us to be. Remember, He gave us a new nature, a new "self", so that's the self we want to bring out for the world to see. Paul tells us:
Ephesians 4:22-24 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
He then gives us a number of examples of how our new self is different from our old self and among those examples is this:
Ephesians 4:29-30 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Whenever we do things from our flesh or sinful nature it grieves the Holy Spirit because we're not listening to Him. His job is to teach us and guide us so we can grow and become more and more like Jesus. So when we don't listen to Him, it grieves Him. (upsets Him) After telling us all of this, Paul then shows us again the differences between our new selves and our old selves, telling us that we shouldn't allow ourselves to continue to do these type of things.
Ephesians 5:1-4 Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
So to make a long story at least a little shorter, that's why I'm trying to list the things that cause me to swear, so that with the Lord's help I can work see what it is inside me that I need to work on so that the "inside" will be clean too.
I sure hope all that made sense!
