Reflections on Ephesians 4:25 — Evil Is in the Ear of the Beholder

“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for edifying, as fits the occasion that it may impart grace to those who hear.”  — Ephesians 4:25 (RSV)

The last part of that sentence is key. And I’ve found that it’s what makes many of today’s worldly professions quite tricky, maybe even impossible, based on worldly expectations. Several such professions I have attempted myself in various settings — each of which I entered with high hopes that were ultimately unfulfilled.

Teaching, for example.

“As fits the occasion that it may impart grace to those who hear,” became a difficult proposition when my students simply refused to be edified by good news. Combative students, openly hostile to God, were common in my classrooms (even in a Christian school!), and my various attempts to persuade them otherwise were almost always feeble — because, I realized even during the moment, the attempts did not fit the occasion.

But what does the occasion call for “that it may impart grace to those who hear” in response to a student’s angry, public outburst against God?

Something along the lines of this? “I love you, brother.  Now, will you please be quiet so class can continue?”

This is the tactic I tried most often.

But that sort of response, as reasonable and as Christlike as it seemed to me,  imparted much besides grace to the student in question (and other students who heard). For him or her, it almost always signaled hypocrisy, impatience, frustration, and other such evils. Those are the the evil things students often reported about me to their parents (and others) anyway — and for which I was sometimes held accountable.

Thanks be to God, I  know that I am a competent teacher despite my worldly status as a “former.” I’ve learned to follow Paul’s Godly wisdom.

Until a student (or anyone) is ready and willing to hear and accept God’s good news, anything shared about Him will be heard as an evil. That makes teaching, by our modern, human expectations, practically impossible.  Even Jesus himself has an atrocious record by those standards. (Just look at the behavior of his best student Peter!) I, for one, am glad that Christ never had to issue a report card for me (or had to sit in a principal’s office to discuss His contribution to my delinquency).

I could go on in this vain about the similar futility of my life as a news reporter and even a political activist.

But I’ll save those stories for future posts.

Suffice it to say this: “evil,” as Paul uses the word in this scripture,  is in the ear of the beholder. And, if someone is dead set on hearing evil in my Godly words of grace and wisdom, there is nothing I can do to change that unfortunate circumstance. But God can. So, my (our) best bet in such situations is to just be calm and quiet and privately pray that God will work His glory in my friend’s heart.

That may not be the most popular, or most intuitive, approach to spreading Christianity. But I have first-hand proof that it works: I learned several years ago that one of my high school friends (and presumably all of his very loving, Godly family) once took that approach with me and my own opposition to God.  He now tells me that he was ecstatic to see me — just before our 30th class reunion —  begin writing all this uplifting stuff about God on this blog.

Thanks be to God that awesome, patient friend who was content to try only this Godly tactic on me.

Lord, help me (and all of us) be always content to follow YOUR model for teaching and sharing your awesome news.