The New Self at Home Among Neighbors

I told you before to put off the old self and put on the new, created after the likeness of God (Ephesians 4:24). Now I show you what the new self wears, in the plainest cloth: truth, honest work, clean speech, forgiveness. For the new life is not lived in the clouds; it is lived at the next word out of your mouth.

"Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another" (Ephesians 4:25). Mark the reason. A lie is not only an offense against God; it is a wound in the body, for you are lying to a limb of your own. When the hand deceives the eye, the whole man stumbles. So speak truth — not because rules demand it, but because you belong to each other.

"Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil" (Ephesians 4:26-27). I do not forbid all anger, for there is a grief over evil that is right. But I put a fence around it: do not feed it overnight. Anger left to sit turns to bitterness, and bitterness becomes a door, and the devil is always looking for an unlatched door. Deal with it before you sleep.

Then to the thief: no longer steal, but "labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need" (Ephesians 4:28). See how far grace carries a man — from taking, past merely not taking, all the way to giving. The hands that once grasped now open to the poor. That is the whole gospel in a pair of hands.

And guard your mouth: "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" (Ephesians 4:29). Your words are meant to hand grace to another. Ask it of every sentence — does this build, or does it tear down?

Under all of it stands this: "Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30). The Spirit within you is a person who can be grieved, and he is God's own seal upon you, his pledge that he will bring you home. Would you wound the very One who guarantees your salvation? Then 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 4:31-32).

There is the measure, and it is not your neighbor's worthiness — it is the cross. You were forgiven at infinite cost, freely, before you asked. Forgive like that. When the wrong done to you feels too great to release, stand again beneath Christ crucified, count what you were forgiven there, and you will find your hand loosening. Grace and peace to you.