Be Kind and Loving to each other
Scripture: Ephesians 4:29-5:2 (ESV)
29 Let no corrupting talk come out of
your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion,
that it may give grace to those who hear. 30 And
do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption. 31 Let
all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,
along with all malice. 32 Be
kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ
forgave you.
5 Therefore be imitators of God, as
beloved children. 2 And
walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant
offering and sacrifice to God.
Devotion:
Paul
when writing to the Ephesians in today’s scripture, teaches us how we are to
speak with our neighbors. He begins by saying that our speech should build one
another up not tear each other down. In our culture today it seems as if much
of our speech is designed to do the latter. Listen for just a few minutes to a
congressional hearing on CSPAN and you will hear words that are designed to
tear someone down. I wish I could say it was otherwise in the church, however,
you are just as likely to hear derogatory comments coming from the mouths of
professed Christians. What can we do about this disturbing situation?
It
is first necessary to realize that there is only one person's speech that you
have control over. Your own. Cleaning up the toxic verbal environment begins at
home. When was the last time you spoke words of blessing over someone? We need
to be better at being gracious with our speech and actions than we have been.
Paul tells us that we have the Holy Spirit living within us. We can either grieve
him or please him by the way we treat others. The Holy Spirit longs for us to
build each other up and is disappointed when we use our words and actions to tear
one another down.
We
are not to carry with us bitter hearts full of wrath and anger. Denouncing others
loudly and slanderously with malicious intent in our hearts. Carrying those emotions
with us will ruin both our hearers and us by promoting discord and division.
Paul immediately gives us the antidote to these poisonous attitudes. What attitudes
should we carry with us each day? Paul promotes kindness. Our world is full of
unkindness right now. We should be kind to others as well as ourselves. This
would make the world a much nicer place to live. Tenderheartedness and
forgiveness are essential oils to our relationships. They make our world work
much more smoothly.
Paul
caps off his list of behaviors with the imitation of God. A tall order in our
society today. It is so tempting to run others down. Behaving like Satan the
enemy of our souls seems so appealing sometimes. However, Paul is clear that we
are to follow Jesus just as his first disciples were called to do. Therefore,
let us walk in love as Jesus walked in love even to the point of dying on a cross
for our salvation. Truly, greater love has no one than this that he lay down
his life for his friends. Let us pray that it may be so with us.
Prayer:
Lord
let us be bearers of your love and compassion to a world that is so in need of
it. Help us to be kind and loving towards our neighbors in this world. Let us always return good for evil, no matter how difficult it may be. Let your Holy
Spirit be our guide directing us into paths that are pleasing to him. Help us
to teach the world the way of love both by loving example and gracious speech.
May all we do be done for your glory. Amen.
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