May 23, 2023: Forget Your Mouth, Wash Your Heart Out

"Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving." (Ephesians 5:4, ESV)

Jesus confronted the Pharisees with, "Out of the abundance of your heart, the mouth speaks." He made an obvious point that was easy to understand. So easy, in fact, that He offended them with His comment. It was a religious spirit that caused them to be offended. Maybe that same unclean spirit refuses to leave so many Christians today because of the abundance in their hearts. I just can't picture Jesus saying, "O sh*t, Judas is betraying me. Or “D**n that was good.” I can't even hear Jesus, while eating with His disciples, talk about the 'frigging' heat. What is it that makes Christians want to swear?

Here is what I can tell you. There is still a part of them that wants to be conformed to the pattern of this world, so they refuse the Kingdom pattern of Christ. They refuse to renew their minds with the Word. It may also be that they have no conviction because they have not read our passage. Maybe they feel they must swear to be more relevant to the world. After all, that is a wide road, and we know where that leads.

Why not just clean up the heart, renew the mind, and put off the graves clothes you came out of? Why not be more like Jesus? Imagine that, Christians that both act and sound like Jesus! One other thing, thanksgiving is appropriate and desired, according to the Apostle Paul.