Pollution: May 7, 2010

May 7. TODAYS WORD FOR FRIDAY MAY 7, 2010.

POLLUTION

DEFINITION:

The act of polluting; to make fowl or unclean; to make impure or morally unclean.

SCRIPTURE:

For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and over-come, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. II Peter 2:20.

Like a muddled spring or a polluted well is a righteous man who gives way to the wicked. Proverbs 25:26.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

You may wonder why we picked a word like pollution for our devotional word of the day. Please read on and you will understand why we did. Today much is being said in our world about pollution but this is not new for today. When the word pollution is mentioned we think only of water pollution, air pollution, or soil pollution. Pollution is caused by man dumping garbage, chemicals, and all kinds of toxic substances into the environment.

When the Bible speaks of pollution it is speaking of the pollution of our minds and our bodies. Pollution of the mind and body is caused by what we dump into them. We live in a polluted world both environmental and spiritually. Today the majority of the people in this world are much more concerned about the pollution of our environment than the pollution of the individual.

James (1:27) advises us to keep ourselves from being polluted by the world. In today’s world that is not easy. We live in a sinful world and the reality of sin is that it is infectious. Like a toxic pollutant put in a river, sin spreads. Christians are in a constant battle with the pollutions of the world.

As we read in II Peter 2:20 (above) even after someone has been freed from the sinfulness of the world by knowing the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they can become entangled once again in sin and overcome by these pollutions. Both Paul and James addressed the evil of the pollution that comes out of our mouth. James tells us that “the tongue corrupts the whole person.”

In the New testament we are told by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 4:29 to “let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” This is what we call “verbal pollution.” Pollution takes on many forms; criticism, backbiting, gossip, bitterness; anger to name a few. Often we neglect to think how some of the words we say pollute our environment, our home, our church, our neighborhood and affects our testimony.

Dr. Charles Swindoll wrote about knowing a group of friends who became concerned about this form of pollution and the part that they might be playing in it. They made a pact to avoid saying critical words for one whole week. They were surprised to find out how little they spoke. As they continued the experiment, they actually agreed that they had to relearn conversation skills.

The apostle Paul called out to us as believers in Ephesians 4 to that kind of decisive action. He said we are to put off the old self and its conduct that grieves the Holy Spirit and put on the new self that builds up others. As we rely on the Holy Spirit we can make those changes in our conduct, in our thinking and in our speaking.

If we really want to get rid of our verbal pollution we must choose to change and do this by asking God for His help. This is a great way to help start cleaning up our spiritual environment. You will be surprised how your spouse, children, family and friends will react. They will see the dramatic difference and will want to join with you. Help stamp out pollution --- clean up your speech!

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Philippians 1:6.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He that has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

PRAYER:

Help me to be concerned about the pollution that my words may be adding to in my life. Give me the discipline to clean up my words of criticism, jealousy and gossip. Make my life and my words an example of Your glory in all that I do today.