Welcome to Friday’s Podcast

Our reading today is Ephesians 4:25-5:2. Today I will focus on verses 29

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

REFLECTION

A friend of mine recently wrote this on Instagram. He’d Googled ‘Encourage’, taken a screen shot and posted it.  This was a departure from his usual arty pictures and I was really struck by what he wrote underneath the image. He said this:

‘Encouragement is oxygen for the soul… it is arguably one of the greatest gifts we can receive and one of the most powerful we can offer. It costs the giver nothing and can be priceless to the recipient’.

He then goes to write about his friend:

‘I was with him the time when what he said to a cleaner in a fast food restaurant that made the person break into the broadest smile I’ve ever seen and walk away a foot taller. I was with him when what he said to someone he worked with moved them to tears… I’ve seen how he talks to his wife and it both challenges and inspires me’

He goes on to say:

‘I mentioned to him a while back that he was so encouraging and he looked me straight in the eye and said: ‘it’s a choice Bill. Years ago I decided that I was going to be someone who sees the best in people and tells them. That I was going to be someone who spoke life everywhere I went and left people feeling seen, known and valued.’

My friend concludes with these remarks: ‘Imagine what the places where we spend out time might be like if we decided to do the same.’

In today’s passage St Paul isn’t just talking about encouragement. But he is he asking us, as do a number of places in scripture to think about – to put it bluntly – what comes out of our mouth.

And for Paul, again a theme in some of his letters – we are all called to build people up. To St Paul, as we’ve established this week – in his mind we are a body – a community of people who need each other. In a world that tears people down – we are to be people builders.

Words have power.

How we use them really matters.

We can influence our communities – our clusters, cell groups, families and workplaces for good – we can speak life and encouragement over people or to be honest we can have the exact opposite effect. We can kind behind ‘banter’ or sarcasm. We can hang back using words to protect us or we can step forward and use them to bring life.

This isn’t just early New Testament positive self help stuff. It’s deeply theological. Words have immense power because believe that it’s by God’s words that creation came into being. His words – literally bring life – they speak over us and into us what the creator intended us to hear.

As we build community and invite people into that community – as we use our words to build people we are embracing our God given design to be people builders.

One of the greatest lies of the devil to any Christian is this: you can’t make a difference in this big world. That’s utter, utter nonsense.

You are a life bringer – whether you realise it or not.

As you walk into the city centre this morning – maybe you work for the council or another big organisation and you catch yourself thinking – I am a small cog in a big wheel: what difference can I make?

Catch that thought and stamp on it.

Jesus brings life. Life in all its fullness. So can you – by choosing to bring life, using your words to bless and build others rather than tear down.

Recently I met with my daughter’s teacher to discuss a matter. It had the potential to be a tricky meeting. As we talked I sensed I should go out of my way to thank her for commitment to the children under her care and for the positive impact on my daughter’s life. I felt a nudge from the Spirit of God to bring life into the situation.