April 5 – Devotion on Ephesians

 April 5 – Devotion on Ephesians

 

Eph 4:29:  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.

 

So in Vs 29, Paul starts with the most obvious our speech.  He says do not let unwholesome talk come out of our mouths.  Gossip, slander, curses, questionable jokes, sarcasm, profanity, outbursts of anger, and questionable conversation.  Whatever is pure, lovely, wholeness, noble, praiseworthy, right, and holy is what we should be talking about.  David asked the Lord to put a watchman at the door of his mouth so he would not sin against the Lord.  James says blessing and curses should not come out of the same mouth.  The mouth will eventually speak what is in the heart.  That is why we must guard our hearts.

     Paul says that we should only speak what is helpful for building others up according to their needs.  We are called to speak the truth in love.  Love should be the foundation of any conversation we have.  Encourage, affirm and build others up in your conversations.  Here are five ways to build others up in conversations, Active listening, Using their name.  Let them talk about themselves.  Make them feel important.  Emphasize similarities.  James says be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger.  When you do this Paul says this will benefit those who listen.  When we have a wholesome conversation it really stands out in our profane world.  Solomon says a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.  I like that.