Verse of the day: Ephesians 4:31-32 Let all bitterness,
wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. 32 And
be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in
Christ forgave you.
The Apostle, once again, repeats the issue of anger. He
tells his readers that sinful anger, and the things that cause it, are to be
put away. We are to put bitterness away, a deep rooted anger that causes us to be
unkind toward others; wrath, which is a passionate anger, one that keeps us
from thinking logically, and causes us to have “diarrhea” of the mouth. We are
to put away an anger that makes us stubborn and causes us to refuse to forgive
others. Clamor is an anger that festers and makes us want to strike out at
those that we have this anger toward. A child of God should not be known as one
who is a brawler. The Apostles lists these in the order in which they often
occur, ultimately leading to becoming a person who slanders, and speaks evil,
always insinuating, and having nothing good to say about anything or anyone;
always looking to start physical or verbal confrontations with others. There
are Christians who, because of events that have occurred in their lives, have
held on to bitterness and become extremely unforgiving over the years. The
Apostle also included malice on this list. This is a person who has a deep
rooted anger festering within. They are angry people, who usually appear
charming and spiritual to those who do not know them very well, acquaintances
that know them superficially; people are mean-spirited and show their anger to
those closest to him. They often abuse others secretly, and are good at making
others believe that the other persons they have had conflict with, if it is
made public, are the ones at fault. This is not what should be found in a born
again believer. Yes, many of us have come into Christianity with lots of “luggage”
from our life without Christ, but with Jesus, that is all past. We must bring
all that to Him in order for our own healing to begin. How often have we seen
or known Christians who suddenly break out into profane language or posted
harsh words and expressions on social media? These are the kind of things that
grieve the Spirit of God because it brings God absolutely no honor and shames
our testimonies. We often do not stop and think of how this will affect those
we are trying to win to Christ, and the devil will use it to turn our testimony
to hypocrisy. The Apostle, in the last verse of this chapter lists the things
that we should do that will counter bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil
speaking, and malice. He tells us to be kind to one another, tenderhearted
toward one another, and forgiving each others. In other words, let us combat
our sinfully angry tendencies with courteous and pleasant attitudes and words.
We are to show compassion and pity toward those that are hurting or are
suffering because they have stumbled (Gal 6:1ff). Finally, in order to avoid
grieving the Spirit, we MUST forgive as God has forgiven us in Christ Jesus.
How did He forgive us? He forgave us freely. In other words, we did nothing to
earn His forgiveness (Rm 5:8). He forgave us completely, holding no offense
against us; and forgave us for all, not just some, of our offenses against Him.
This means that we are not to have a list of sins against us that we will not
forgive. It means that we will refuse to bring up old offenses once we have
forgiven them, and we are not to hold on to a “secret” unforgiving attitude
toward someone, that only comes out when no one else is around; this is
especially damaging in the marriage relationship. One of the reasons that our
refusal to forgive grieves the Holy Spirit is that is has caused many church
splits and division within the body of Christ. This causes more damage and
hinders the advancement of the Gospel more than we know and are willing to
admit. Before we stubbornly refuse to forgive others, let us be reminded that
this is not an option we have been given; it is a command. In Luke 17, Jesus
tells His disciples that forgiveness is to be given seven times in a day if the
offender comes with repentance and seeking forgiveness. He then goes on to tell
them the story of the master and servant. The master commands the servant to
serve him at the table after working all day in the field. Is the servant to
expect a “thank you” for doing what was commanded of him? Jesus’ response to
them was, “I think not.” Jesus made it clear, that we are to think of ourselves
as unprofitable servants who have done what we were commanded to do (Lk
17:1-10). In closing, I would say that the best way to avoid grieving the
Spirit who indwells us, and is with us every single moment of the day, every
day, is to obediently apply the Word of God to our lives, in humility, seeking
no pat on the back, or making excuses or justifying why we did not obey an
obvious and straightforward command of God. Jesus told us that if we truly love
Him, we will obey His commandments (Jn 14:15). Let us not love God only in
word, but in obedience of His Word.
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