Unwholesomeness

 DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE EPHESIANS

UNWHOLESOMENESS

Eph 4:29-32

29 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. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

NIV

We do not need to look far to understand what is meant by unwholesome talk, for we are given a fairly comprehension list of what consists of unwholesome talk. If we were to look at the opposite of these words, we might be able to find words that are helpful for building others up according to their needs. We are going to move past this admonition of not grieving the Holy Spirit until we deal with the list of unwholesome talk, then we can sum up this grieving. We should note the Greek word sapros, translated here as unwholesome has this direct meaning of corrupt or rotten and worthless. This could imply either foal language, dirty words, what we might think as cursing or using the Lord’s name in vain. But if we take the first word on this list of attitudes and behaviors that we are to rid ourselves of, we could see this word rotten or worthless can be seen as bitterness. When we harbor any bitterness within it is surely going to show up in our speech at some point, then it becomes toxic and poisonous. What would or could cause someone to be bitter and speak toxic words? We think this could start with envy or jealousy regarding others receiving things from the Lord that we have not, or that we think we should receive them. It may not even be blessings from God but that others may have advanced themselves through their own labors, but then God is the one doing that work in them. So we see them as better then us, in the wrong way and that envy of jealously takes us into being a little bitter, which starts festering and builds within us until full-blown bitterness has gripped our hearts, and from the heart words precede from the mouth. We also know that bitterness unchecked will lead us into rage and anger, even brawling and slander and even malice, all of which we need to examine individually, to see more clearly what is the result of this bitterness. For now, let us make sure, through this self-examination with the guidance of the Spirit to see if we might have even the slightest hint of envy and jealously that could lead us to becoming even into the minutest amount of bitterness. We know as we rely on the Spirit, He will lead us into all truth, about God, and about ourselves.