“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” (Ephesians 4:29). Our natural disposition is incapable of producing anything but corrupt communication; however, the believer who saturates himself in grace-orientation and grace-thinking has the capacity to edify others by ministering that grace to the listener. The believer who receives the grace of God in vain by failing to let it become operational and effective in his soul will, sooner or later, be characterized outwardly by evil speech that reflects the baseness of his inward disposition of bitterness, wrath, anger, ill-will, spite, and resentment (1).
In contrast, we see in the next verse that the believer who receives the grace of God and does allow it to become operational in his soul will have a tender heart which will be expressed outwardly by kindness, helpfulness, compassion, understanding, and forgiveness to others. He knows he has been forgiven. “And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”
When the believer chooses to function in the kingdom, all treasures of the nature of God become an experiential reality!
