Ephesians 4:29 reads, “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.”
Edify means to build up, to construct, or improve. Our words are supposed to improve the hearers. Our words should bring people closer to the Lord, and to improve good things. I was just thinking about edifying and how we are supposed to edify one another.
“Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.” Romans 15:2
“ But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,” Jude 1:20
Hebrews 3:13 reads, “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
The Bible teaches us that we each give our strength to something. We each build up or give our strength to something. But it instructs us to give our strength to the Lord (Ps. 29.1). If we don’t give our strength to the Lord we end up giving it to wickedness.
“ Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” Romans 6:16
“Lest strangers be filled with thy wealth; and thy labours be in the house of a stranger;
And thou mourn at the last, when thy flesh and thy body are consumed,
And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;” Proverbs 5:10-12
Strengthening our brethren is also a way of giving our strength to the Lord.
” And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” Matthew 25:40
”Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2
The Lord told Simon Peter that when his faith had been tried to do this.
” But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” Luke 22:32
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
Not giving our strength to the Lord may cause something else to be built.
We may not actively be doing something contrary to the Lord, but not giving our strength to the Lord may cause something else to be built.
Proverbs 24:30-34 reads, “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.” Through neglect the stone wall was broken and the weeds took over the ground. The Lord also said that if He drove out all the inhabitants of Canaan at once, the wild animals would come in (Ex. 23:29-30). When we aren’t doing what the Lord wants us to be doing, it gives place for something else to come in. The Devil is seeking whom he may devour (I Pt. 5.8). He wants ground. Jesus said,“ . . .Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19.13).
Sometimes tearing down is a part of edifying.
There are multiple steps to building. Sometimes you need to tear down things to build them up! Paul told Timothy to “ . . . reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” (II Tim. 4.2). Gideon had to throw down his father’s altar to Baal (Judges 6:25-26), before he built an altar to the Lord. Many times we need to get rid of things in our own life so we can serve the Lord better.
Tearing down isn’t a substitute for building up the things of God.
Reprove and rebuke are mentioned more than exhorting in this verse. This may indicate how much we need to get rid of before we build up. But the job is also incomplete if we don’t build up what the Lord wants us to. The Bible says that there were some who just delighted in tearing down (Ps. 63.4, Pr. 22.28). Judas found fault with the woman anointing Jesus with ointment, because “it wasn’t given to the poor” (John 12.4-5). Pretty soon the others found fault too (Matt. 26. 8-10). The Bible also says that the froward (those that go away; opposite of toward) find no good (Pr. 17.20). It isn’t always the Spirit of God that finds fault. While tearing down often needs to be done, we need to encourage each other too.
“And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25
These have been just a few thoughts.
God bless!
When Ravens Cry 