“Wise up and get your act in gear.”

By Rev. Michael Stonhouse

Meditation – Thursday, May 16, 2024

Ephesians 4:17-32 (Forward, p. 18) CEV p. 1224

I’m not sure of the derivation of my opening phrase but I wonder whether it has to do theatre and the act of performing on stage. The audition is, of course, rather crucial, but much more so is how you come across on stage. There you have a script to follow, with one’s following of it being absolutely crucial to how the play comes out. One or two minor slips can routinely be accommodated, but anything beyond that can be downright disastrous.

The same is true of the Christian life, or at least, that is how the apostle Paul puts it. It appears that certain of the disciples in Ephesus have forgotten their script, or at very least, decided to ‘wing it’, to ad lib it with their own ideas, with terrible consequences. He doles out quite a litany of ‘failed’ performances, of proverbial ‘bad actors’:

-they live like stupid, godless people.

-their minds are in the dark.

-they are stubborn and ignorant.

-they have missed out on the life that comes from God.

-they no longer have any feelings, any sense, about what is right.

-they are greedy, so much so, that they do all kinds of indecent

things.

Obviously, this isn’t what they should have learned from reading the script; this isn’t at all what is in it. So, what does that script say?

-they are to give up their old ways of life with its bad habits and foolish desires.

-they are to let the Holy Spirit change their ways of thinking and make them into new persons.

-they are to quit lying, temper their anger, quit their thieving, and moderate their speech. Instead, they are to say the right thing at the right time and say only what will help the other person.

-they are to avoid grieving or quenching the Holy Spirit and take pains to listen to the Spirit’s direction and be led by it.

-they are to quit being angry or bitter, and stave off yelling or cursing or being rude or disrespectful.

-instead, they are to be kind, merciful, and forgiving, forgiving in the same way and measure as Christ has forgiven them.

What this reminds me of, then, is of our constant need to read the script, which is the Bible, and become innately and intimately familiar with it, so much that it becomes part of our daily words and actions—and part of our very beings—so that we truly do get our acts in gear, and become the people God wants us to be.

Forward notes: “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear” (verse 29).

“As someone who is active on social media, this verse from Ephesians is convicting. Whether talking or typing, expressing ourselves is innate and can also be impulsive. The desire to make a joke or comment on a current event in a cynical or denigrating manner might get likes, but it does not meet Paul’s criteria for being useful for building up.

“While Paul was addressing life and relationships within the local church community, current technology means that the whole world has access to our words and thoughts—and us to theirs. It is often overwhelming, and yet we also feel compelled to say our own piece lest no one know what we think. Though I have certainly regretted things I have said, I rarely regret when I’ve held my tongue. Paul encourages us to be mindful about our speech that we might be instruments of God’s grace and love wherever we go and encourage one another in faith.”

Moving Forward: “When was the last time you used words as a weapon? Do you need to apologize?”