One of the first passages that stood out was one dealing with speech:

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:29-32)

Pretty basic stuff, but not easy at all. For a long time, I thought that as long as I didn’t go out of my way to say hurtful things, then I wouldn’t be hurting anyone in my speech. However, I’ve realized how dangerous a careless word or comment can be. I need to be extremely careful of everything I say. “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless” (James 1:26).

According to v. 29, here is the way a Christian should always talk:

• Without corruption: nothing bad or rotten should be said. Specifically, chapter 5 says that “no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking” about sex should be involved (v. 4). There’s a fine line between being honest (and not prudish) about sex while at the same time not talking about it to satisfy the lust of the speaker (off the top of my head, I can think of several instances where I have done this). If you find yourself bringing sex unnecessarily into many of your conversations, that’s probably a bad sign. (Apparently, Ted Haggard did this frequently before his homosexual behavior was discovered.)
• Building up: constructive and encouraging, even when criticizing; being careful not to criticize without offering encouragement. I often assume that people around me know that I appreciate them and their work — but, of course, I never tell them. So when I do come to them with criticisms, it’s deflating and discouraging. I know how that feels because I’ve been on the other end of the stick.
• Fitting the occasion: whatever needs to be said. Everything should be carefully shaped to address the need of the situation. No doubt this requires a lot of skill, practice, and prayer. I look forward to seeing this become second nature as God teaches me how I can make my speech become “gracious, seasoned with salt” (Colossians 4:6).
• Giving grace to those who hear: communicating the grace of God that should be evident in our own lives. Every word we say should be a gift from God to those around us. Reading the Bible or a good Christian book is an encouragement to me; my own words should encourage others in the same way.

The next three verses demonstrate that a) it’s possible to grieve the Holy Spirit by the way we speak toward others (v. 30), and b) speech should contain no characteristics of “bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander” as well as “all malice” (v. 31); instead, our words should be “kind, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (v. 32). That last phrase is a good reminder that we are called to speak to others the way God speaks to us — with love, mercy, and forgiveness.

Holy crap, this post went a lot longer than I thought it would. I was worrying as I began this blog that I’d get tired of it really fast, but it’s clearly becoming too much fun to stop. It’s been a great success in getting me to think more deeply over the scriptures. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (2:10)

The sovereignty of God offers so much comfort to me. I don’t want to be a “self-made man” — I know too much about my own sin and weaknesses to know what a disaster that would be. What this verse promises is that I am, and will continue to be, a God-made man. I am His workmanship — He has been molding me and will continue to shape me until the day I die. It’s one thing for God to create something new, as He did when He created the world. It’s another thing for Him to take what is hopelessly crooked, a lost cause, and renew and restore it to the glory that He intends for it. Furthermore, He then uses this jar of clay to do good works, which He himself had planned beforehand from the beginning of time (this reminds me of Psalm 139:16 as well).

I was encouraged to see this in my own life yesterday. After getting back from the New Orleans trip, I thought I had reset my alarm clock to daylight saving time. As it turned out, I didn’t check carefully enough, so I was nearly an hour late to Sunday school, where I was supposed to speak. I was tempted to make excuses (I was tired from the trip, my alarm clock was at fault, etc.), but the day before I had been reading Future Men by Douglas Wilson, a book on manhood and raising boys. Wilson had written about how important it was for men to accept responsibility for their failures instead of making excuses; at the time, I had been convicted of my own tendency to blame my problems on others. And the very next day, I was presented with another opportunity to excuse my own failure, but with Wilson’s comments fresh in my mind, I decided to take responsibility for it. I didn’t want to go to Sunday school at all, but after my roommate Matt called and asked me to come, I swallowed my pride and went. On the drive over, God really gave me an attitude check…I felt awful about being so late and didn’t want to talk about it, but He helped me realize that it was necessary to own up to being late and face the music, not to avoid discussing it. As a result (and because everyone there was understanding and merciful), I was able to worship God freely and without guilt in church.

I came away from church yesterday encouraged, my eyes fixed on Jesus, and I’m glad that I was late. It’s good to see how I am God’s workmanship every day.

I suppose I should note that the emphasis on the passage is not just the individual, but the entire church as the workmanship of God. I’ll hold back from commenting on that since I don’t really have anything to add, and it’s time for lunch.

In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.

One of the biggest struggles I see college students facing is trust in God. Most of them don’t know what they’ll be doing after they graduate (or even at the end of the semester!). They also question who they will marry (or if they will marry), how they will get by financially, etc. While my career is planned out for the next three years (though subject to the will of God), I have many other questions about my future. It’s hard to shake off doubts about who God is and whether or not He is faithful to take care of me.

What v. 16 points out is that much of these struggles and doubts are due not just to our own lack of faith but to the devil as well. He takes full advantage of our weakness, and he would love nothing more than to see us crippled by worry and fear. From the beginning, he has asked us to question, “Did God actually say…?” (Genesis 3:1).

God calls us to respond with faith — if we trust Him, we will not fear. Ephesians contains a lot of encouraging teachings that are helping me to trust God. It is very clear from this book that God longs for us to receive the treasures of His grace:

…So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (2:7)

It’s my birthday today. I’m 23 years old now, and I’m just beginning to realize how much I need to learn to follow God. Today, I’m praying that God will teach me to trust Him as I look forward to the rest of my life. Whether I die tomorrow or when I’m 80, God will always be guiding me, and I can count on Him to pour out His grace on me.

He predestined us for adoption…to the praise of his glorious grace. (vv. 5-6)
In him we have obtained an inheritance…so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. (vv. 11-12)
In him you also…were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit…to the praise of his glory. (vv. 13-14)

I suppose I’ve heard it a hundred times that God works for His glory, but it’s an important thing to remember. Even our salvation took place so that God can show how glorious His grace is. Ephesians seems to talk a lot about the unbelievable treasures we have in Christ; it would be easy to lose focus and to forget that we receive these so that we might praise God.

Clearly, I need to start praising God more instead of letting these riches go to waste. I suppose a great way to do that would be to (gasp) talk about what God has been teaching me. It’s kind of weird…I feel with many fellow Christians as though talking about spiritual things is “off limits” except when we’re in small group, church, etc. God forbid that we talk about what is most valuable and precious to us — the one thing we have in common as a family. My roommate Mike and I recently discussed how silly it is to think we can be bold in declaring the truth of the gospel to unbelievers when we won’t even discuss it among believers.

I’m going to try it tonight at HOOT. We’ll see how it goes. (Holding it up to God in prayer, of course.)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

What’s really stood out to me about this is the word every. I tend to forget that I have everything I need in Jesus Christ. Like most people in the church, I usually think of blessings in the material sense: “God’s blessed me with a great wife,” “I’ve been blessed with a good job,” etc. I won’t dispute that those are blessings, but ultimately, the greatest blessing is found in Jesus Christ–specifically, God’s grace in adopting us through Christ (vv. 5-6).

It’s tough to remember that God has given me everything I need. I have access to all the riches of God through Christ Jesus, but I can never seem to get rid of my longings for the things of this world.