But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. — Colossians 3:8

Not so long ago, I was involved in a conversation with someone. We were talking about people that we each knew. We spoke about close friends and distant acquaintances. One person’s name came up and I mentioned that I heard this person was attending a specific church. The response from the other person was rather surprising.

He said, “He’s a Christian? Well, he certainly doesn’t live like it.” I had never seen anything in the person’s life to cause me to question their faith. Apparently, the other person had. While the conversation did not go any further, it did bring to mind many of the writings of Paul in the New Testament, one of those here in Colossians.

In his writing, Paul said in this verse that we should put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy communication. Why? Because all of those things are not characteristics of a Christian. Malice, or the desire to do evil, is a desire of the heart. For someone with a changed heart, we shouldn’t desire to do evil!

This is not to say we will not struggle with some of these things. For example, there are Christians everywhere that will tell you they struggle with anger, wrath, and communication at times. Life brings about emotional responses. In those moments, it can be easy to be angry, express wrath, or say things we shouldn’t, especially if it was so common for us in the past.

Why do we struggle with these things if we are changed? Because we are far from perfect. It does not make these actions acceptable at any time, it simply shows that we are human. In these moments, it should immediately strike our hearts so that we know we were wrong. This conviction gives us the opportunity to set things right with God and those around us who may have witnessed our actions, showing them we are truly different.

Jared Dyson