Eph 4:17-32 — The New Life
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
“Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed” (Ephesians 4:19).
In verses 22 and 23 we are reminded of our elementary lessons, we were taught “to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” We were taught to turn away from the pleasures of the world because they are deceptive. The enticements of the world lead us away from Christ by attempting to satisfy our selfish desires. Anytime we venture down the path of sin, we lose our focus on God and fall.
Paul reminds us of the lessons we were taught (just in case we didn’t remember): “you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor” (4:25). There are two parts of this thing we MUST do: stop lying and start telling the truth. It’s one thing to stop lying, it’s a whole new thing to start telling the truth. To stop lying is relatively simple, though perhaps difficult to some who struggle with very low self-esteem. Here lies seem to temporarily build themselves up to one of greater importance. Lies never solve problems and eventually lies come to the surface, even if the liar avoids the penalty. Telling the truth takes responsibility and requires action. This is a much more difficult task. Lord I pray that I will not lie to be sure, but more, I pray that I will be able to tell the truth to my neighbors.
In this truth-telling phase, we need to be aware of our words, “let no 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” (4:29). The old adage, “sticks and stones break bones, but words never hurt,” is far from reality: words have caused wars. Simply said, words matter. They matter in the course of our daily affairs, our family and our church. They even matter to the Holy Spirt, “do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (4:30). Lord help me to be kind and compassionate to everyone and to keep what I say and do in light of the ultimate sacrifice made by Jesus. Help me to remember he forgave me and called me to be his friend.