God's Power to Change Your Life by Rick Warren

Author:Rick Warren
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Zondervan
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

BE SUPPORTIVE

A second characteristic exhibited by kind people is supportiveness. This means talking about building people up rather than tearing them down. Watch what you say to people. Be supportive in your speech. Speak kindly. Proverbs 15:4 says, “Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit” (GNT). Nobody likes to be put down. Children say, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.” Baloney! Names do hurt! Labels hurt! In fact, the Bible says that death and life are in the power of the tongue. You can destroy others with what you say to them. So build people up with your words. Give everyone you meet an emotional lift. Encourage them. Be supportive.

Proverbs 10:32 says, “Righteous people know the kind thing to say, but the wicked are always saying things that hurt” (GNT). Are you the kind of person who will pounce on a weakness in someone else? Maybe you do it in a joking manner, but you do it, and you enjoy doing it. By contrast, kind people do not embarrass others.

I saw a cartoon in which Charlie Brown is talking on the phone to a girl who says, “Hey, Chuck, guess what I’m running for? The Queen of the May at our school.”

Charlie Brown says, “That’s very interesting. Lucy has always been chosen at our school.”

The girl on the phone responds, “Your school has pretty low standards, huh, Chuck?”

After Charlie Brown hangs up the phone, he looks at Lucy and says, “She says, ‘Congratulations.’ ” Now that’s diplomacy. That’s kindness.

How supportive are you in speaking to others? Do you encourage or discourage with your words? Do you lift up or tear down? Do you brag on your kids, or do you nag them? Let’s put it this way — if God gave you a dollar for every kind word you said and took away a dollar for every unkind word you said, would you be rich or poor? Learn to be sensitive. Be supportive in your speech.

Joseph is a good example of a man who spoke kind words. Everything seemed to go wrong in Joseph’s life. His brothers treated him like dirt. In fact, they put him in a pit and sold him into slavery. Everything seemed to go wrong during the first thirty years of his life: he was falsely accused of adultery, he was put into prison, he was the victim of broken promises. But later the tables were turned, and Joseph became second in command in all of Egypt. His brothers came to him on bended knee, and at that time Joseph had the opportunity to retaliate and get even. But the Bible says that Joseph reassured them and spoke kindly to them, even after their father — the person Joseph would most want to please — had died (Gen. 50:19 – 21). Kind words can build a bridge in a strained relationship. A Christian ought to speak kindly even when given the opportunity to retaliate.

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