Jump Start # 3555
Ephesians 5:4 “and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”
One of the scenes on the landscape these days are storage units. You find them everywhere. They are in big cities, as well, as small towns. Sometimes you’ll pass two or three different ones in a day. How is it that these places stay in business? The answer is simple. We have too much stuff. There is more stuff than can fit in our homes.
And, that thought takes us to our verse today. There are things the apostle tells us that just do not fit. They do not fit with being a disciple. They do not belong in our hearts any more. Filthiness, silly talk, coarse jesting—those things don’t fit. Don’t try to squeeze them in, like putting on a tight pair of pants. They simple do not fit.
Others uses the following words for “fitting”:
· ESV: out of place
· KJV: not convenient
· Phillips: not fit subjects for Christians to talk about
· CEB: aren’t acceptable for believers
· CSB: not suitable
When Paul wrote Philemon, he stated that he had confidence that he would do what was proper. Proper fits. When we try to force what doesn’t fit, to fit, it sends a mixed message. It leads to the charge of hypocrisy.
Now, here are some reminders for us:
First, we should not expect the world to act, nor talk like Christians. They won’t and they don’t. The world doesn’t have a moral compass other than itself. The world answers to no one other than society, which is shallow, changing and without a conscience. So, don’t be surprised when some earnestly says, ‘I’m telling you the truth,” when they are actually lying. The world cusses. The world doesn’t get embarrassed. The world doesn’t act like Christians.
Second, there are certain things that just do not fit in with being a Christian. We must stop trying to build a bridge between right and wrong. We must stop coming up with excuses for bad behavior and improper attitudes. Some things are out of bounds because God said so. Moving the boundary markers only disappoints God.
Third, there are certain things that do fit in the life of a disciple. We must make room for those things. Paul told the Corinthians, “Make room for us in your hearts” (2 Cor 7:2). Our hearts can do that. We can find room to include prodigals. We have room to include the young as well as the old.
A common practice many go through every spring is to clean out their closets. Clothes that no longer fit are tossed out. There is no need to hang on to things that will never be used again. Every once in a while we need to go through our junk drawer in the kitchen and toss out things that we no longer need. Old manuals and instruction books for appliances and things we no longer have need to be pitched. Spring cleaning we call that. It feels good and looks good to rid ourselves of the clutter of things we no longer want or need.
It’d do us a lot of good to have a good ole’ fashioned spring cleaning in our hearts. Get rid of the junk that no longer fits. Get rid of the negative attitudes that we have kept for too long. Time to toss the memories of hurts that we have been holding on to for decades. They don’t fit and we certainly do not need them. What hurtful thing someone said years ago, needs to be deleted from our minds. It doesn’t fit and why are we holding on to it?
There is a story about the founder of nursing, Clara Barton. She was ripped to pieces in an editorial of a local newspaper. At a banquet she was attending, a friend told her that the editor who wrote those critical and cruel words would be there. Barton said, “I distinctly remember forgetting that.” It didn’t fit, so she got rid of it.
As brethren, we need to get rid of the spiritual storage units that house all the hurts and negative things that have come our way. Why keep those things? Change where you need to change, and then get rid of those things. We need to stop storing attitudes that are sour, depressing and harmful to the cause of Christ. Mean spirits do not need to be stored. Prejudice. Hatred. Anger. Selfishness. Pride. Harshness. Judgmental. Wicked. Toss them. They do not fit. They will never fit. Why hold on to them? They only keep you from growing and pleasing the Lord.
What fits? Is it time to clean out the closets of your heart? You might find that you have been holding on to things that just do not belong in the heart of a disciple. Get rid of them and do not look back. Toss them without any regrets.
One can never be in the right shape with the Lord as long as he tries to squeeze into the things that no longer fits. I’m done with these things—that’s a great place to be spiritually.
Roger