Something Rotten

Take a moment to consider your favorite meal. Is it some type of fish? What about steak and potatoes? Perhaps you enjoy a good Caesar salad? Having considered the meal please take a moment to imagine something. Imagine that, having won a free meal, you are sitting within a very posh restaurant. Having looked over the menu, you spot it! They serve that food you love more than any other in the world! Surely a restaurant of this caliber would serve it in a manner which you have never experienced. You would be correct. After minutes of anticipation the meal arrives on a covered dish. Your server sets the meal in front of you and states “Enjoy.” Excitedly you remove the cover, close your eyes, and expect to take in the wonderful aroma of the meal. You immediately gag. What is that horrendous odor? Looking at the plate you realize why. The food before you is covered in maggots and mold and rotting away. It is not fit for a meal. Obviously you complain with the promise to never return again. After all, why would anyone want something rotten going into their system?

At this moment someone may be asking the question, “What’s the point of making mention to a decayed delicacy?” Paul wrote, “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.” (Eph. 4:29). The word corrupt means, “rotten, putrefied, not fit for use.” There are many who would out right refuse to allow anything rotten from his lips. The same would gladly let many rotten statements fly from his mouth. The worst part is how readily accepted this is within society. Whether written, lyrical, or spoken many allow offensive jokes, subtle innuendo, and outright gutter talk to be acceptable. Paul’s encouragement is that Christians do not allow such things to escape their lips.

What type of speech should the Christian have? That which is good for edifying! The word “good means,” “good, pleasant, agreeable.” The word “edify” gives the idea of building up a building as one would in architecture. Corrupt language tears down those it is aimed at. Edifying speech builds up. This is the type of language God wants His people to use. The aim is to speak to others in such a way that they are benefitted in their daily lives rather than saying something which one is likely to regret.

No one wants rotten material to enter their lips. Do we want rotten material to exit out?