No Corrupt Communication

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” –Ephesians 4:29

Throughout our days we say thousands of words; many speak with their hearts but it seems a lot more speak by their feeble minds. We think even more than we speak, but that’s not where I’m going with this right now. Every day the choices we make say what we are and who our hearts beat for, so it’s an open door—we can either take God’s Word and apply it literally to our daily lives, key word ‘daily’, and make a difference in the world with love, caring, and compassion. Or we can live for ourselves and the world and speak with hate and judgment, leaving the world looking at you and wondering who exactly your god is because it’s definitely not my God that is all about kind words and actions and who would never act in any other way than righteous. It’s really not that difficult to lay the ways of the world down and pick up your cross to follow Jesus.

We have to be careful, especially those of us who call ourselves Christians, because everywhere we go we have God, Big Brother, and every other person on this planet watching our every move. If we are sitting around talking about one another and complaining, moaning, and groaning there’s always a chance that at least one person around you, that doesn’t know much about God, will see your actions and hear your words and remember you sitting a few pews ahead of them in church that previous Sunday morning will think to themselves, “If that’s what being a Christian is all about, then why do I have to go to church or be saved? I can just stay the same if this is what it takes.” I don’t know about anyone else but I know I definitely do not ever want to lead anyone astray, EVER, because I know when it’s my turn to stand in front of the Man on Judgment Day I don’t want to have to beg and plead for another chance to get it right. I want to get it right the first time around no matter what, even if it means being laughed at or ridiculed by the world for being a “Jesus Freak”. It happens every time, no one God ever sent to this world was accepted, not even His Son. So how can I, a speck on the planet, a no one, expect to be accepted or be treated any different? Instead of having the previous feelings of sadness or embarrassment for being rejected I can finally be excited because it means I am His child! How anyone with a beating heart can laugh at someone that has love for Christ and goodness is really beyond me, even though I clearly understand scriptures explaining the cold heartedness of many humans, it still makes me feel pity for them.

It takes more energy to be grumpy, grouchy, sad, and frowning than happy. Who honestly wants to go throughout their day in a bad mood? No one wants to be by you or even attempt talking to you because they are scared of how you’ll react and ultimately you’re left alone and even more down in the dumps—how ironic. Think about it for a minute……Who honestly likes being around a grumpy, miserable person? They never seem to bother me because I always smile, say hi, and pray for these individuals because they are the ones that need the kindness and love the most. I realize we all have factors in our lives that do indeed have a huge potential in getting us down, stressed, and depressed but these are usually tests. The test is to see how you will react and whether you choose to follow the flesh or the spirit (Ephesians 6:11-12). Some people say, “Well I keep praying and praying and nothing seems to change.” Well that’s probably because you keep failing the test. You can’t go to the next level if you can’t even comprehend the one you’re currently on, right? And we can pray for days for things we WANT, but it usually always makes you miss the things the Lord blessed you with. The things you needed. We cannot be selfish any longer; it is such a toxic way to live.

So let’s just make the choice to understand what it really means when it says to walk WITH Christ. Not behind him yelling, “Hold on Jesus! I just have to finish this last weekend of drinking”, or “Just a minute, I’m not ready just yet to fully believe and commit my life, give me a couple weeks and I’ll be back”. That’s not at all what it means to walk with Christ. I believe it means we have to walk and talk like a Christian, not just when we feel like it, but always.  Make it a point to smile at every one and ask complete strangers how their days are going. For in doing so, some have entertained angels unaware (Hebrews 13:2) .

"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels." 

Smile, be happy, and love one another. ALL of mankind and not just some of mankind. If someone has hurt you, pray for them and don’t think about retaliation. If someone stole something from you, pray for them and don’t constantly count of the lost material possession that is now gone. If someone has hurt you by false accusations, pray for them and don’t constantly re-live the moment over and over in your head, allowing someone the opportunity to live rent free in your head. PRAY FOR EVERYONE. Be thankful for the things you are blessed with; family, friends, a home, food, clothes, health, God and a country that allows you the right to worship Him freely. We all need to be very thankful for this last one because there has been and will be times of peril and times where we are forced to worship other gods and idols and will ultimately be banned from our Bibles and God. The realness of what ‘Christian persecution’ is will come crawling back to reality. We have to make sure we are paying attention to what is going on around us because the world we live in is all about illusions. Don’t just trust and believe what CNN or any other news outlets tells you because a lot of the time it’s not even the whole truth, or even close to it. Do not willingly accept what the media spoon feeds you. We cannot be so naïve, we HAVE to wake up and at this point I don’t really care who thinks I’m ‘crazy’ for speaking my mind and the truth about the world because I would rather look back and know that I spoke the truth and spoke up for what I believed, instead of giving in to the fear of not being accepted for offending someone.

It’s about time we stop living in a society of being ‘politically correct’ and start being Biblically correct and this involves speaking up and standing BY our God. Not behind Him. If anyone is feeling confused or having questions about Jesus, I suggest you read the book of John in the New Testament, it tells the story of who Jesus is so well that it leaves you without ever doubting again. That’s if you really read it and study it with your heart, mind, and soul. If you just pick your Bible up without really craving to understand then you won’t have much of a chance because it has been designed to work that way. Those that are spiritually blind will always be ignorant of the truth--even when the lame walked and blind could see-- they will never understand until they turn their hearts towards the Lord.

You are enrolled in a full time school called life. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid at the time. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error; experimentation. The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately “works” (That’s Gods experiment). A lesson is repeated until learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can go on to the next lesson. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lesson. If you are alive—there are lessons to be learned. “There”is no better than “here”. When your “there” has become a “here” you will simply obtain another “there” that will again look better than “here”. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need, your heart and the Lords Word. What you do with them is up to you, the choice is yours. Look, listen, and trust.

So, let no corrupt communication come out of your mouth, but that which is good to edify and minister grace unto hearers. Act, speak, think, walk, and talk with Christ. J