Ephesians 4:26-32 ESV
“Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 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.”
Be Angry, Sin Not
Anger is a God-given emotion to let us know that something
is wrong and for the purpose to motivate us toward some type of action. God
gets angry. Jesus got angry. So, all anger is not sinful. Some anger is rooted
in sin, usually stemming from unresolved hatred, unforgiveness, bitterness,
pride, resentment, and jealousy, etc. And other anger (or the same anger) is
sinful when it is acted out in sinful ways which are harmful to others.
So, you may feel anger in a way that is just, or that it is
good that you feel it in order to make you aware of a problem that needs to be
resolved. But what you do with the anger is what makes it sin, or which
furthers the sin that is already stored up in the heart from which evil spews
forth in our words and/or in our actions. So the way to be angry and sin not is
to use that anger to motivate you toward a positive and productive response.
It is when we hold on to anger, and we let it stew within
our minds and hearts, and we don’t speak the truth in love, and we don’t
confront the person who hurt us, and/or we assume things that did not even
exist or that weren’t even said, and we don’t talk about them, that the
anger turns to sin, because it then turns to hatred
and unforgiveness and bitterness. So, don’t let the devil get a foothold in
your life. Deal with your anger in a good way.
No Stealing, Instead Giving
Stealing is not just taking something that doesn’t belong to
you from a store or from someone’s house or from your employer, etc. You can
steal time by taking time for yourself that you are obligated to give to your
job while you accept payment for work that you did not do. And you can steal
people’s hearts and their devotion to you by lying to them and by putting on a
false persona in order to trick and to deceive and to manipulate them.
Adultery is stealing from your spouse what is rightfully his
or hers and giving it to another who is not your spouse, which could be
yourself, too, i.e. you could be your own “other” lover, your own idol. It is
defrauding others out of what is rightfully theirs through trickery, lies,
swindling, being a charlatan (we have many of those) and by double-dealing and
being a con artist. And many pastors these days are charlatans and con artists.
And what these pastors, alias con artists and charlatans,
are actually stealing from the people is their true salvation from sin and
their eternal life with God. For they are twisting the Scriptures to say what
they don’t say and they are feeding the people lies which console them in their
sins and which do not demand repentance (turning from sin), submission to
Christ as Lord, and walks of obedience to our Lord and to his commands (New
Covenant).
So, to stop stealing you must work with integrity, you must
be honest (tell the truth), and you must share with others who are in need, but
not just with material possessions or with money, but with what can give them
the true hope of salvation and the true hope of eternal life with God. You need
to tell them the truth that Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him
to sin and live to him and to his righteousness.
[Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet
2:24; 1 Co 6:19-20; 2 Co 5:15; Tit 2:11-14; Jas 1:22-25; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Rom
12:1-2; Eph 2:8-10; 1 Co 15:58; Php 2:12-13; Col 1:21-23]
No Corrupt Words
We are to let no corrupting talk come out of our mouths. We
are to let no immoral, dishonest, crooked, and perverted words come forth from
our mouths, which is indicative of what is actually in our hearts, according to
Scripture. For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The evil
that comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and it is what defiles a
person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual
immorality, theft, false witness, slander (Matthew 15:17-20; Luke 6:45).
So, before we can keep corrupting talk and evil behaviors
from coming forth out of our words and actions we have to first deal with what
is stored up in the heart. Many people continue in addictive sinful practices because
they won’t first deal Scripturally with what is in the heart. And then they act
surprised when they keep sinning, as though they have no control over that, or
as though their sin is just coming out of left field somewhere.
If you are addicted to any sin, it isn’t coming out of left
field and you should not be surprised by it at all. It is coming from what is
stored up in your heart and it is acted out in your behaviors and words because
the heart has not changed. The heart is not fully surrendered to Jesus Christ
but you are still holding on to something which is holding you back from that
total surrender, and which is what is still leading you down the path of sin.
So, we need to prayerfully examine before God what is in our
hearts, and we need to let him reveal to us what is there, and then we need to
let those things go, whether they be pride, unforgiveness, bitterness,
resentment, hatred or whatever. And we need to daily say “No!” to ungodliness
and fleshly lusts and live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we
wait for our Lord’s return, in the power and working of God’s Spirit within us.
And then we need to put on the truth, and righteousness, and
holiness, and walk according to the Spirit, and not according to the flesh, in
the power of God’s Spirit as we daily deny self and die to sin and as we yield
control of our lives over to the Lord and we give him full reign and we refuse
to let the flesh have reign. And this is achievable because of what Jesus did
for us on that cross in giving his life up for us to free us from our addiction
to sin and to empower us to live righteously in holiness and uprightness.
For, if we don’t, and if we continue in the flesh, still
having control over our own lives, and not giving God control, and so we
continue living in sin, in addiction to sin, then we must know that the
Scriptures teach that we will not have eternal life with God. We will not
inherit the kingdom of God. But we will die in our sins because we refused to
die to our sins. So, please take this to heart, for Jesus died to free you from
your addiction to sin, and full victory over sin is possible by God’s Spirit
when we yield to God’s control.
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: we’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
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