Are you a good talker?

 

 

A couple are getting dressed to go to dinner and Sally asks Sam, “How does this outfit look?” The words, at face value,  are inviting an opinion about clothing, but are they really?  A wise companion listens for the ‘hidden’ question. Regardless of his opinion of her attire, he will affirm his affection for her! Oh, yes, men ask for affirmation, too.  We have all had one of those strange conversations that starts off - “But, you said,”  and with that the other person ‘repeats’ what they heard, which is nothing like what we though we said. In our conversations there are - “what is said, what you think I said, and what I think I said!”

Want to avoid many problems in life? Work on communication skills, which goes far beyond just being a ‘good talker.’
From the wisdom of the Word, we are taught several important things about it.

Of first importance is what Jesus taught. Be a person of plain and honest speech. "Just say ‘yes’ and ‘no.’ When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong. " (Matthew 5:37, The Message) In this day when lawyers are legion, as followers of the Lord of Truth, we must make integrity in communication our goal.

And know this, there is another Listener in every conversation and it’s not only your Alexa™ device. So we pray, "May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14, NLT) Knowing that God hears not only our words, but knows our true motive, is both a comfort and a caution!

There is this – in time our words expose our heart! "A good person produces good words from a good heart, and an evil person produces evil words from an evil heart. And I tell you this, that you must give an account on judgment day of every idle word you speak. The words you say now reflect your fate then; either you will be justified by them or you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:35-37, NLT) Am I a person passionate about the things of God? It will show in my conversations. My emotions, fears, hopes, and dreams spill over in my words.

Words are powerful – to build or destroy! James, in a passage rich in metaphor, teaches this. "A word out of your mouth may seem of no account, but it can accomplish nearly anything—or destroy it! It only takes a spark, remember, to set off a forest fire. A careless or wrongly placed word out of your mouth can do that. By our speech we can ruin the world, turn harmony to chaos, throw mud on a reputation, send the whole world up in smoke and go up in smoke with it, smoke right from the pit of hell. … With our tongues we bless God our Father; with the same tongues we curse the very men and women he made in his image. … My friends, this can’t go on." (James 3:3-10, The Message)

There is one certain way to improve the quality of our communication. It starts deep inside of us. Our sincere prayer will be - “Change me, Lord! Make my heart and motives pure. Let the words that flow from me bless, encourage, create hope, and give life.”  When the Spirit is at work in us, our words will be grace gifts. Jesus said that  “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Rivers of living water will brim and spill out of the depths of anyone who believes in me this way, just as the Scripture says.” (John 7:37-38, The Message)

Here is a word from the Word, a prayer, quoted a moment ago.
Make it yours.  

"May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14, NLT)

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Spend time in worship this weekend.

Gather with the people of the Lord.

And, on Memorial Day, take time to remember those who have served and died in the defense of our nation.

Thanks for reading CWTW, which I pray encourages you to pursue a life that pleases God each day.

I’m standing here, Lord, for them

I have stood in courtrooms and witnessed effective advocates speak earnestly for those they represent. In our justice system, nothing replaces having an able lawyer on your side.

One young man I know, barely an adult, did some foolish things, not violent, involving only some relatively minor property damage. He was assigned a lawyer who met him for the first time a few moments before his hearing. After briefly reviewing the facts, his ‘counselor’ advised him to just plead guilty and take the consequences.  It was terrible advice because the offenses were technically felonies with a life-time criminal record! Because he offered a guilty plea, the judge had to give him jail time. The blessing in this case was a compassionate judge who saw the incompetence of the public defender and took it upon himself to offer to review the case in a year and expunge the young man’s record if he did not break the law again.

We have an able, wonderful Advocate before our Father! John reminds us of the amazing ministry of Jesus. "My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if you do sin, there is someone to plead for you before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who pleases God completely. He is the sacrifice for our sins. He takes away not only our sins but the sins of all the world." (1 John 2:1-2, NLT) When offend God because of our humanity, our sinful nature, our Great Priest advocates for us, His eternal sacrifice making us right with God. What love!

In my readings in Exodus, I came this morning to that passage where the people grew afraid when Moses was gone for 40 days. Without his steady hand of leadership, they reverted to old ways of idolatry, turning from the True God to a golden calf like the gods of Egypt. They offered sacrifices to the idol, then they began to party heartily and immorally!  The LORD, angered by their fickleness, told Moses He was going to abandon them to death in the wilderness. “I’ll make a great nation of your descendants,” He told Moses.  I am moved by the love that Moses reveals in the next part of that passage.  

 "But Moses pleaded with the Lord his God not to do it. “O Lord!” he exclaimed. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and mighty acts? The Egyptians will say, ‘God tricked them into coming to the mountains so he could kill them and wipe them from the face of the earth.’ Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you are planning against your people! Remember your covenant with your servants—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You swore by your own self, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. Yes, I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’ ” (Exodus 32:11-13, NLT)

He became an advocate for the people! It is not the only time in the Scripture where someone stood before the Lord to plead the case for mercy. Abraham did it on behalf of his nephew, Lot. Elijah prayed for Israel. Daniel prayed for his people. Paul prayed earnestly for the salvation of his people.

Do you pray for your family, your friends, your nation, the world?

God has revealed that we, mere humans, have an effect in heaven’s court. 

Do I understand exactly why or how? No. Why would the all-wise, eternal God pay attention to me? But He says He does and invites me (and you) to pray this way. Let’s accept it, by faith, and pray as advocates for others. What a privilege it is and you can bless others by being an intercessor, too. Somehow, many Christians have become convinced that only the pastor or some class of ‘super Christians’ can exercise the privilege of intercession for others. That is not the case. We are all invited to come with confidence to the Presence of God, through Jesus Christ. We all can pray earnest, fervent, humble, faithful prayers on behalf of others.

The Holy Spirit who lives in us leads us in this kind of praying. "And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don’t even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will." (Romans 8:26-27, NLT)  Prayer on behalf of others is an act of love, a ministry to them.  You can pray for a wayward son or daughter without telling them and God, the Holy Spirit will move in their lives. You can pray for a friend a thousand miles away who is struggling and bless them in that way.

Those who pray prayers of advocacy can see changed hearts, changed ways, and thus avert the consequences of sin that would otherwise come upon them. That is what we see in a well-known passage in Ezekiel. The LORD said, “I looked for someone who might rebuild the wall of righteousness that guards the land. I searched for someone to stand in the gap in the wall so I wouldn’t have to destroy the land, but I found no one." (Ezekiel 22:30, NLT)  That is where get that phrase ‘Stand in the gap.’  Our prayers bridge the gap between those who are in need of mercy and the grace of God! Amazing, isn’t it?

Our work of intercession is modeled after that of Jesus! Of course, we are not saviors. He alone can offer salvation to the world. But, knowing His grace, we can become advocates before God on behalf of others. It is hard work, often tearful, a weighty responsibility.

A word from the Word challenges you and me to take up the calling.  Let’s lay aside our preconceived ideas about what it means to intercede. All that is required is willingness to love, a desire to touch the heart of God, and simple, earnest prayer offered on behalf of others.  "All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. This is the wonderful message he has given us to tell others. We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ." (2 Corinthians 5:18-21, NLT)  Amen!

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O Come To The Altar

(an invitation sung by Elevation Worship)

Are you hurting and broken within

Overwhelmed by the weight of your sin

Jesus is calling

Have you come to the end of yourself

Do you thirst for a drink from the well

Jesus is calling

O come to the altar

The Father's arms are open wide

Forgiveness was bought with

The precious blood of Jesus Christ

Leave behind your regrets and mistakes

Come today there's no reason to wait

Jesus is calling

Bring your sorrows and trade them for joy

From the ashes a new life is born

Jesus is calling

Oh what a Savior

Isn't he wonderful

Sing alleluia Christ is risen

Bow down before him

For he is Lord of all

Sing alleluia Christ is risen

Bear your cross as you wait for the crown

Tell the world of the treasure you've found

Chris Brown | Mack Brock | Steven Furtick | Wade Joye

© 2015 Music by Elevation Worship Publishing (Admin. by Essential Music Publishing LLC)

CCLI License # 810055

No bed on which to lay his head

Compassion, responsibility, opportunity, choices …  while I drove I listened to a program that was discussing homelessness in America.  I heard about solutions that had unintended consequences. Some suggested stricter laws, others wanted to pour more money into building houses. Others said the answer was institutionalizing more people.  But, each answer was incomplete. Just providing more housing leaves issues of mental health unaddressed. Just saying that we need to compel those who are mentally incompetent to be institutionalized ignores economic inequality that drives some to the streets. To suggest that it is all about drug and/or alcohol abuse ignores the realities of the truly poor.

Who among us has not,  at one time or another, saw a homeless person and thought, “Oh, those kind of people…”  while we formulated some reason that they, not us, are in that situation. Whatever the reason, we can rationalize that it is their fault, thus not our problem. But, it is! That person sleeping in their car, trying to find a place to clean up every morning could have encountered a storm of illness, job loss, and being without extended family, been overwhelmed. In so many cases that one final incident starts a steep, quick, spiral downward. A significant percentage of families in America live without a financial reserve.  Just a few things going wrong at the same time could push them into homelessness. Without friends or family, they too, would be looking for shelter.

It is true that America shuttered many institutions over the last 40 years, changed laws about those who struggle with competence, which created a flood of people who are living shelter to shelter, in abandoned buildings, or just on the streets. They can be hard to reach, with a constellation of dysfunctional behaviors that defy every attempt to create a stable life, but these are not ‘throw away’ people.

Real solutions will require diverse strategies; involve individuals who care, government agencies that coordinate efforts, and churches who are active in rebuilding our social contract.

Christian, think about this. Proverbs declares: "The poor are despised even by their neighbors, while the rich have many “friends.” It is sin to despise one’s neighbors; blessed are those who help the poor." (Proverbs 14:20-21, NLT)  The homeless - whether they are the family whose luck just ran out, the veteran who is gripped by PTSD, the addict, or the mentally ill - are our brothers and our sisters, people God loves, worthy of being treated with dignity. 

As I reflected on this, I came to realize anew that we must not just see those living on the streets as a project or a problem. They are people – complex beings just like you and me – who need to know that they are seen, that we regard them as people who matter to us, to God.  The Bible is full of instruction about loving the poor. As stark as the OT law can be, in my Exodus readings, I see a thread of concern, of fairness, of justice.  For example, a creditor could not hold a man’s coat, given as security for a loan, overnight. Farmers were instructed to leave the harvest in the corners of their fields so the poor could go out and glean for themselves. There was a complex system for returning a family’s land to them in 50 year cycles to prevent perpetual poverty. Those examples teach us to care and to be active in our engagement.

The New Testament is even more clear - "Suppose you see a brother or sister who needs food or clothing, and you say, “Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, it isn’t enough just to have faith. Faith that doesn’t show itself by good deeds is no faith at all—it is dead and useless." (James 2:15-17, NLT)  Our Sunday songs and sermons don’t mean much if we close our eyes to the needy on Monday.

Real change won’t happen in a month or a year. Poverty is not something we cure and forget about. Compassion compels us. Will we think about this, pray over this, engage ourselves with this, and become a small catalyst for change be it feeding the hungry, strengthening families, teaching financial responsibility to our children, or whatever else God calls us to do?

The word from the Word may hit us like a slap in the face. "Anyone who sets himself up as “religious” by talking a good game is self-deceived. This kind of religion is hot air and only hot air. Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world." (James 1:26-27, The Message)

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God, lead us to love.

Preserve us from ignoring the need,

From soft-headed emotional ‘solutions’ that do nothing to really help,

From hard-hearted ‘solutions’ that hurt the suffering,

From empty symbolic gestures that do nothing but salve our conscience.

Help us to care enough to give ourselves,

To risk failure and rejection,

To love like Jesus.  Amen.