“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.” Ephesians 4:29 NIV
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
Consider the lilies of the field… Matt 6:28
“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.” Ephesians 4:29 NIV
thedailylily.com 
his memory verse is a good reminder that we will have to give an account for every idle word we speak…that would be every word that doesn’t benefit the listener if I understand this verse correctly.
Matt 12:33-37 from the Message gives a very descriptive account of idle or careless words.
“If you grow a healthy tree, you’ll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you’ll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree. “You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”
This is a very powerful scripture. I’d like to share the footnotes for {Eph. 4:28-32 – We can bring sorrow to the Holy Spirit by the way we live. Paul warns us against unwholesome language, bitterness, improper use of anger, harsh words, slander, and bad attitudes toward others. Instead of acting that way, we should be forgiving, just as God has forgiven us. Are you bringing sorrow or pleasing God with your attitude and actions? Act in love toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, just as God acted in love by sending His Son to die for your sins.; footnotes from NLT study Bible}
“Are you bringing sorrow or pleasing God with your attitude and actions?” …this question is ringing through my mind. Am I bringing sorrow or pleasing God with my attitude and actions? I will think on this question as I go through the day today.
What about what I said and did yesterday and the days before? Are my words of days gone by washed down the drain and of no avail? If so, why concern myself with words and actions of today?
True but that is also true on ANY sin we commit and ask pardon and then later even though we are trying to mend our mouths, commit again and have to ask forgiveness., again.
In Sister Gwen Shaw’s book she writes that the Lord spoke to her heart, these words about the tongue. “The more you criticize the more you hinder MY work by your negative attitude. Every negative discouraging, critical word affects the creative work of God. It is pollution added to MY original formula and hinders the progress and the growth of the “seed” by many decades. You must never want to do that. There is too much good in you for that kind of EVIL, so guard yourself and don’t limit yourself.”
As I return over and over to this scripture I am amazed how engaged the Apostle Paul wants us to be with one another. We would have to know and understand our listener to apply this edict, “… only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs…”
THinking about Sara’s question, ‘What about what I said and did yesterday and the days before?”…I thought these scriptures from Proverbs 12 (Message)were relevant…
“Truth lasts; lies are here today, gone tomorrow. “Prov 12:19
“Rash language cuts and maims, but there is healing in the words of the wise.” (vs 18)
“Well-spoken words bring satisfaction”(vs 14)
Hum, there sure is a lot here, for me to ponder, practice, and work on today and everyday.
I agree Needles.
Gods’ words in His Word are alive and powerful. II Tim 3:16, 17 looks like it provides a holistic approach to effective communication if we can know, understand and apply it with wisdom to the situations in peoples’ lives our conversation would be wholesome, bringing health.
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”
I have always understood that your thoughts are a window into your soul and your words are a mirror of your soul. It seems easy for me to understand this when I read the Apostle Paul’s writings. Think on this; “your words, may benefit those who listen.” (our blog) Are we listening to our own words. Or are we so addicted to our words that we don’t even know what our words were or are, even now?
Wholesome to me gives the idea of holistic. It really gets exciting to think about and practice the art of healing through words…..
Words are messengers to others, either in written or oral form. If I fail to to develop them, use them and send them at just the right time, then someone never gets the message they were intended to convey and that can mean life or death, help or hindrance, hope or disappointment, etc.
How many of us can remember getting letters? When I left home as a young girl for school and work my Mother would send me letters. I would start crying at the sight of them. She would give me news from home, scriptures for living and words to reassure me of her love.
Wonder how the church felt when they received letters from the Apostle Paul?
Just to think that someone took the time to sit down and write to you is an encouragement. One has to know that the person who does that, is thinking of them?? The church must have thought or felt that Paul was thinking of them and wanting to encourage them, in the Lord?? Good question, Sara.
Paul’s gracious epistles were and still are for encouragement, doctrine, correction, revelation and love. He never failed to express his love of the body of believers to whom he addressed his letters. Even in Corinthians and Timothy and many of the other letter he showed his concern and care and agape love even in the midst of disciplining and admonishing his flocks.
He wrote endearingly even when he was stern. Even when he was writing from a dark dank prison slab where he was in chains he wrote with graciousness and concern.
We have it pretty good. We don’t have physical chains around our ankles or eating off a filthy dirt floor in an ancient prison. We should always be gracious with our words even if we don’t feel well, or something is bothering us or a crisis has arisen in our lives. Graciousness is almost a lost art, even among us believers.
I have a Christian friend at school whose words are always gracious and encouraging in the Lord. Her attitude is one of piety and she knows the Word of God and applies it in her demeanor , in her decisions and in her conversation. She is a shining light in our midst. I want to be like that.
The church didn’t have a Bible and the many translations of it that we have today to open up, read and instruct, guide and teach us. They must have been wanted to know more about the Person of Jesus Christ that they had put their faith in. Paul had such serious assurance of the accuracy and power of the words that flowed from his pen and mouth as being those of the Lord God. I wonder if the church understood and felt the import and reverence also? We could ask ourselves the same question as we read his letters today.
Paul had this to say about the wholesome words of his letters:
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Tim 3:16
“For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit…” I Thess 1:5
“And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
I Cor 2:1
I agree Needles,” One has to know that the person who does that, is thinking of them?? “The Apostle Paul, a father of the church, and, Ada, my loving Mother, wrote with fire of love in their tongues and fingers. They didn’t just write to anyone they wrote to the ones they loved.
And, how do we respond?