Monday Thought – June 22, 2015

Good Morning Friends,

Paul told the Ephesians that when a person comes to Christ a radical change comes over their life. They “put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires” (Ephesians 4:22) and “put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24).

Then he goes on to help us understand what the difference will look like in our lives.

“Put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor … ‘In your anger do not sin’. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer. ... Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs. ... Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 5:25-32)

Our relationship with Christ should change the character of our speech. Before Christ, we spoke however we wanted to speak, in whatever way would advance our own interests and our own ideas. If lying accomplished our goals, we lied. If unwholesome speech made us feel powerful, that’s how we spoke. Our relationship with Christ gives us a new outlook on how we speak. Our speech takes into consideration our love and concern for those to whom we speak. So, we don’t lie because lies hurt others and we care too much to hurt them. We no longer speak in unwholesome ways, but now all of our speech reflects our desire to help the people around us.

Our relationship with Christ should change our attitudes. Bitterness, rage, anger used to characterize our attitudes toward life and toward other people. Now, kindness, compassion, and forgiveness are the marks of our attitudes, even as they mark the character of Christ.

Our relationship with Christ should change our actions, too. Stealing and other sinful actions were common place in our lives before Christ. Those actions were focused on getting what we wanted and meeting our needs. A whole new way of looking at how we act has come over us in Christ. We’re not as concerned about our own needs, but now the concern that dominates our actions is our concern for what others need.

Of course, those are the ideals and none of us has made it to those ideals yet. We still stumble in our speech, our attitudes and our actions. But those remain the goals of our lives and the direction in which Christ is taking us.

His, by Grace,

Steve