Daily Readings and Thought for October 6th. “CORRUPTING TALK”
The world today is full of ‘corrupting talk’ – and the Apostle Paul uses this phrase in today’s Ephesians’ chapters. This is the natural way of speaking in many cases among people who have no thought of God, especially those who are convinced they are the highest form of animal life and that they are just the result of evolution.
The ‘atmosphere’ created by godless ways of thinking – and therefore talking – which we experience as we go to school or work, constantly threatens to rub off on us. This atmosphere can so easily influence the way we think – and as a result, what we talk about. Although we are aware ‘we are in the world but not of it’ the words of Paul we read today are needed as a constant reminder to us.
He wrote, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion, that may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God (the means by which God and Christ know all our thoughts and words – read Psalm 139) … Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” [Ephes. 4 v.29-32]
How few are “tender hearted” these days. The influence of the daily reading and meditating on the word of God makes such an attitude of mind possible, otherwise it is very difficult if not impossible. It is just as important to get our attitudes right as it is to get our beliefs right. Take special notice of what Paul also writes, “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” [v.15]
