We will continue today to look at personal holiness. We have already seen that we are to live to bring glory to God, put away all sin, live with the knowledge of the link between eternity and the present, have personal discipline, and practice walking in love. Yesterday we saw that walking in love included not responding to hurt by acting in revenge. Now, we focus on not speaking evil of others. Ephesians 4:31 says: "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice...." It is so easy to speak unkind words about those not present. This seems to occur naturally in the church under the false pretense of prayer requests. God sees the falsity and knows the hearts of those that speak evil concerning others.
Jonathan Edwards understood the prohibition against evil speech. Resolution 16 stated: "Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good." Edwards left the smallest opening to disclose evil about others if it was for a good reason. Certainly, there would be a duty to warn others if knowledge about a pending action of another might bring harm. Again, the necessity of honesty about oneself and the motive is necessary to determine whether speech is evil.
Today, watch your speech. Inquire of your motive when you speak concerning another. Adjust where necessary and you will find that you are walking in love. Also, if you are feeling convicted on this, also ask yourself about the speech you hear. Do you tolerate evil speaking in your presence? If so, walking in love would include telling others about the prohibition. Walking in love is not always easy.
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