| Good morning everyone, Our theme for this month: “Christian community” Our Bible verse for today: “Pleasant words are a honeycomb: sweet to the taste and health to the body.” Proverbs 16:24 (CSB) Our thought for today: “Rediscover the language of blessing” This past Sunday at Oak Hill Baptist Church my friend, Will Foster, preached an uplifting message about the importance of encouragement. You can watch the video of that message on our YouTube channel (see note below). Encouragement and speaking words of blessing to each other is a crucial aspect of Christian community that is very much needed today. We live in a very negative culture – especially with respect to social and political issues. There is so much anger, bitterness, and mean-spirited discourse out there! Criticism, mocking, and even taunting seem to be the order of the day. Sarcasm, character assassination, and mean memes are all over social media. We’re awash in negativism. It seems to define our culture these days. I think of it as a kind of nationwide Gotham City. If you remember Gotham City from the Batman movies you will remember that it was a dark, ugly place where hoodlums were unrestrained and innocent citizens were huddled in their homes, afraid to venture out. The social and political discourse in our nation is like that. We live in a verbal Gotham City and the rhetorical hoodlums are in charge. But that should not be true of Christians. It should not be true of how we conduct ourselves out in the world, and it especially should not be true of how we conduct ourselves in church and in our interactions with other Christians. Instead, we should be the ones speaking words of blessing and encouragement. We should be the lights in an otherwise dark world. In Proverbs 16:24 Solomon noted that pleasant words are like honey, sweet to the taste. Pleasant words are refreshing and enjoyable and they bring a smile to a person’s face. According to Solomon, pleasant words even bring health to the body. How could that be? In what way does the hearing of pleasant words improve someone’s health? Well, for one thing, pleasant words can help to relieve some of the stress and anxiety we’re all under. That then will lower the heart rate, clear the mind, settle the stomach, and calm the nerves. Pleasant words and a warm smile can help to improve a person’s physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. As Christians we need to rediscover the language of blessing, and then we need to use it a lot more than we do. The Christian community, and society in general, would be a much nicer place if we all spoke more words of blessing and encouragement. God bless, Pastor Jim (Join us at Oak Hill Baptist Church every Sunday at 10:00. Join us in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you are a shut-in, join us online at www.YouTube.com/oakhillbaptistcrossville) |
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You are so right, Pastor Jim. I thank God for you and the messages that He speaks through you. I am not sure how we even connected through this platform, but I am glad that God saw fit to do it. May He rain on you with blessings upon blessings. May you feel His love and warm encounters through each soul that He has placed in your path. In Jesus’ name.
Thank you Donna. I’m blessed by your writing as well. Thank you!
You are quite welcome! Have a great day!