Kind words are worth repeating

Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the mind and healing to the body.
– Proverbs 25:11 (The Amplified)

[Oh well, what does it matter anyway! This person isn’t going to change no matter what you say to him or do for him. He’s beyond help so the best thing to do is to leave him alone. After all he has more to lose than we do.]

Although this may fall into the probable sayings of the “give uppers,” yet this train of thought seems so common place. However, before going any further, what’s wrong with this kind of thinking? Would this kind of attitude reflect some one labeled as a born again Christian earmarked as a leader in the church? Just what are the conditions that determine whether an individual will never change? How can you know when it is best to leave anyone alone to fend for himself or herself? Most importantly, what internal mechanism allows you to know that you're speaking sincere words? How much emphasis should be placed upon doing something as well as speaking words? What is the best way to get started?

Yeah! You are right! There are [no doubt] numerous ways to answer these kinds of questions and I believe they have been touched upon before by a great many people. As I'm sure they have found out, it is so easy to speculate or give an opinion not based on fact, but just the opposite happens whenever an individual knows exactly what he's/she's talking about.

What’s behind the concept of “what do you have to lose anyway?” I just happened to meet a fellow pilgrim that testified that he was once a drug addict and lived from pillow to post – an outcast of his family. But one day, a praying mother of the church saw his condition and felt the need to pray for him as he typically could be seen making his way to the drug house. One day she called out to him and he heeded the call. She prayed for him and for many days afterwards, he couldn’t be seen strolling past the old lady’s home. He was off the streets. Something miraculous had happened to the man she prayed for. Little did she know that he was led to accept Jesus Christ as his lord and Savior.

Listening to the story of his radical transformation, what follows is a summary of Sylvester’s testimony. A young man that I’d met before but didn’t get a chance to talk with until just a few days ago after a church meeting. After the conversation was over and I had to re-think on what he had to say, I scribbled a few notes. He pointed out that he knew what it meant to be without hope. He knew what it was like to be down in the dumps…he had been there…but Jesus came in and changed everything for him. Jesus gave him a brand new image of himself. Now, he could tell everyone he met that Jesus Christ is real.

What saddened him the most was that “we can say how beautiful a flower is or how adorable a new house is, but we are afraid to say a kind word to a person that has been made in the image of God. It’s so easy to point out the colors of a new car or be carried away with its slick- body frame, but never an encouraging word to one of God’s children resembling His likeness. It shouldn’t be that way for a Christian.”

What struck home was the emphasis of speaking kind words especially to a fellow believer but also to everyone that you come into contact with. I had a field day just thinking about the kind of words that got Sylvester’s attention. They had to have been words nurtured by the Holy Spirit. The elderly woman lovingly responded and did something that only the prayer of faith can do. Meeting a complete and total stranger wasn’t an issue. She had everything to gain and nothing to lose remembering that an act of kindness is just like kind words – they’re worth repeating. In fact, the Bible says in Ecclesiastes 12: 11, The words of the wise prod us to live well. They’re like nails hammered home, holding life together. God, the one Shepherd, gives them. – The Message/Remix. Selah