https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Eph+4%3A29-32&version=NIVUK
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
‘Unwholesomeness’, which the ESV sometimes translates as ‘diseased’, seems to be Jesus’ vocabulary when he talks about what belongs to the Holy Spirit vs. demons. He used it in: ‘A “bad” tree bears bad fruit…. A “bad” tree cannot bear good fruit’ (Matt. 7.17–18); ‘Either assume the tree to be good as well as its fruit good, or assume the tree to be “bad” as well as its fruit “bad”; for the tree is known by its fruit.” (Matt.12:33)
But having been sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption, if we give out bad talk, we are making the Holy Spirit (the good tree) into an unholy spirit (a bad tree). When ‘anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven’ (cf. Mtt. 12:32), how can the fruit of the Holy Spirit behave against him? Paul is making his favourite and famous claim: That cannot be! Therefore, shake off what resembles the features of the demon’s fruit, but be sober and let out what God has given to you in Christ!
My Lord, Holy Spirit, if I feel like badmouthing someone today, let me take it seriously, not let it pass thinking ‘just this once’, but actively shake it off, and by doing so, show off how good a tree you are.
- What do you think is the most urgent need that the people around you have?
- How would you help them to be built up through your speech?
- What distracts you most when you are trying to build them up through your speech?