Idle words may, in a very general way, be defined as words that issue out of a condition of idleness fruitless, useless hours. The care of speech is eminently a fit training which the Gospel ordains.
I. There are a great many words that are like dust-cloths. They remove grime; they drive away unpleasant thought and feeling; they change the temperament. There are a great many things in conversation that tend to make men cheerful, that tend to put springs under the waggon of life to make it go easier along in the rough road. All these things are edifying in their own way. They polish, they brighten, they comfort, they cheer; they keep people above melancholy and gloom, and that itself is very desirable.
II. One kind of idle words is tattling. It is a kind of gay frivolity upon a line of things which require sobriety and charity. It proceeds neither from wit nor from humour, nor from rectitude; but it is amusing ourselves with the thousand little scraps that relate to men and their affairs. Not only is it of no benefit to them, but it is bad for us and bad for them.
III. Boasting is another form of idle speech. There is a vast amount of it which springs up in youth and does not die out in manhood. It is a sort of bidding one's self up in the market. It indicates the want of any high self-measuring, and is very foolish and idle.
IV. Profane swearing is an utterance of sacred names or of sacred things in a light, trifling, and, worse still, in a malicious and angry mood. Swearing is some men's idea of boldness. But God forbid that any man who values aught that is noble and sweet and pure in men, in angels, and in God should indulge in this most demoralizing habit! There is the best reason in the world, in philosophy, in politeness, in neighbourly charity, why one's mouth should be kept free and clean from all profanity. It is the violation of decency and honour; it is the violation of every noble instinct.
H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxi., p. 268.
References: Matthew 12:36. F. W. Farrar, In the Days of Thy Youth,p. 30, Matthew 12:36; Matthew 12:37. C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons,vol. i., p. 19.