Get Rid Of It

“Get Rid Of It”

Ephesians 4:31-32 NLT

Get rid of all bitterness, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior.  Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

We have all had situations in life where we’ve had to say “Get rid of it!” when we found something that needed to get tossed.  Maybe it’s some moldy food that went unnoticed or got buried in our fridge for a while.  Maybe it’s a trash can that has something very rotten in it and the moment we open it, we can’t even describe the smell!  Maybe it’s a dead rodent that we start smelling somewhere in the house and we finally find it and are ready to be rid of the foul smell. 

We could go on and on describing situations in which we find something repulsive or just something that needs tossed and we raise our voices a bit and say, “Get rid of it!”.  There’s nothing good that’s going to come out of keeping these things and we know the only solution is to throw it away so that we can clean the bad smell up or just a mess that has gotten out of hand.  We have all been there and done that to some degree. 

None of us wants to keep foul smelling things anywhere or keep a terrible mess around to continue building.  We may let the messed build up for a while, but there comes a time when we have to do something and take action.  Most of us would agree that we gotten get rid of things that smell terrible or look horrible.  These things do not make life easier, but they make it worse and much harder to move forward.

Just like these bad things, we’ve got things in our spiritual lives that we also need to get rid of.  We so often hold on to bitterness, anger, harsh words, slander and evil behavior.  We let these things fester and they do no good in our lives.  We are clearly called to love each other and show grace and forgiveness to one another.  All of us know that we have treated people we love and care about in these ways.  We know people that we have treated poorly and, in a sense, it’s causing some smelly situations when God looks down on us.  It’s smelly to Him, but often we don’t think twice about it.  He wants us to get rid of these things and be full of love for each other.  I know, much easier said than done depending on different circumstances and situations. 

I challenge all of us to find things in our lives that we need to get rid of.  Find areas and broken relationships in which we are holding on to the bitterness, anger, hard words, slander and evil behavior.  We need to pray through this and ask God to give us a heart of forgiveness and show love instead. 

Get rid of it and be filled with God’s love instead.