Outside influences

"Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need."

-Ephesians 4:25-28

Do I talk about telling the truth? Or should I talk about anger? How about stealing? Stealing would be a good one since I know I'm guilty of it, but I'm also guilty of anger.

I think that maybe I can talk about all three of these things in a broader sense by considering them in a more general way. We sin. You do it. I do it. It's just life. Sometimes it takes someone to look us in the eyes and tell us we're sinning in order for us to realize it. In our own minds we've already justified it. The burglar has justified his stealing in his own mind. The addict tries to justify his addiction, etc.

What Paul is doing in this section is he is calling out sin. Are you stealing? Stop. Are you deceiving your neighbor? Stop. Are you quick to anger and sin? Stop. It could just be me, but it seems like there are times where someone just needs to be blunt and tell us we shouldn't do something. There's something about that outside influence that challenges us and helps us to readjust our own perception of how things are. Hopefully today we'll be mindful of God and others trying to speak to us.