Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones. ~Proverbs 16:24
The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple.
The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever.
The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous.
They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold.
They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. ~Psalm 19:7-10
Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. ~Colossians 4:5-6
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 you may benefit those who listen. ~Ephesians 4:29
Sadly, it seems to be the case that what sells today is anger. On both sides, the more whipped up the media can get their listeners, the better it is for the sponsors of their programs. The angrier the follower becomes, the more hooked they are as a follower and the more convinced the follower becomes that their side is right! Satan is loving the frenzy and spurring it on at every turn.
All the yelling, all the anger is addictive. Most followers would not like to see themselves as addicted, but many are. It’s an unpleasant thought. We all like to justify our addiction by saying that we’re just staying informed, and being informed is important, but the anger is the hook, the drug that needs to be avoided. Anger is satan’s way of keeping those, created in the image of God, from finding God’s better way.
“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” We need to disengage from the anger that our media source is encouraging and, instead, seek the peace that God offers for our souls. We represent His calm in the storm when we focus on Him instead of the message that the world is spewing at us every day. Our pleasant words of hope and peace can be a balm to a world that is being whipped up into a frenzied hatred toward one another with no true solution in sight.
“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders. Make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” If the world could peek into our church windows and hear our conversations with one another, would they witness the peace that, deep down, they long for? Would they see an oasis from the anger of the world to which they belong? That’s what Paul is getting at here. He is urging the followers of Christ to put on display a different way. “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 you may benefit those who listen.”
What if the world heard us complimenting and encouraging one another? What if they heard us express words of care and comfort to those who are facing challenges? When Jesus told His disciples in John 13 that it is by loving one another as He loved, that the world will know that we are His disciples, He was encouraging them, and us, to put that love on display, so that, when the world is peeking into our windows, they see a way of living that they will want and, intuitively know that they cannot achieve on their own.
We accomplish this more by meditating on God’s Word, as David demonstrates for us in Psalm 19, than by having a constant diet of what our media wants to feed us. David finds meditating on God’s Word pleasant in itself: “sweeter than honey from the honey comb.” He finds reward in focusing on God over the chaos that the world offers. He lists for us the benefits of focusing on the Word of God, as a blessing that is pleasant to receive and beneficial for our whole life and attitude.
Paul says similar when he advises to set our minds on things above, not on things of this earth. “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” (Col. 3:1-3) Our hope isn’t in this world. It is in Christ. Shouldn’t we want to know our source of hope best of all?
That adage, “Garbage in, garbage out,” or “You are what you eat,” can easily be adapted to say, “Anger in, anger out,” to get the same idea across. If you feed on anger, you may become angry with little opportunity to affect a change on what makes you angry, out there. One thing that Kathy and I try to do that helps us stay centered on our true hope in Christ is to have our quiet times, both together and separately, before we get our first dose of the news for the day. After all, the news can wait. It doesn’t seem to change much, throughout the day, just repeat itself, over and over.
God helps us to put the news of the seen world into perspective and maintain His peace. We are still His no matter what we hear. We are still secure in Him. His pleasant words to us are like honey from the comb, more pleasant to feed on than the dirt this world has to offer.
Finally, “Make every effort to live at peace with all men, (and women), and to be holy. Without holiness no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” (Hebrews 12:13-15) Remember what we said a while back about, “in all things charity?” Those who see things differently may be deceived, or they may really believe that they believe in a better way. We don’t know, but in any case, for the sake of Christ, we need to be charitable, think the best of their motives and opinions and be pleasant anyway, just as we would hope they do with us.
A root of bitterness or anger is poison to the peace and unity that Christ desires for His bride. Let’s use pleasantness and be His children of peace, on display for the world to see, as they look in our windows. We can enjoy His peace because, no matter what happens in the seen world, with all the shouting and finger pointing, from both sides, because of Christ, our hope isn’t in who’s side wins. Our hope is in Christ. We are still His children. He still loves us.
Nothing can happen without His approval, for His purposes. He is still in control. That’s why we can have His peace in the midst of all the chaos. His pleasant words to us are like honey, sweet to our souls and healing to our bones. Then, in turn, we can reflect that peace around us and be more pleasant because we know the truth of where our hope lies, in Him, not in the politics or the media of the world.
Prayer: Father thank You for such wisdom. Help me to speak it and control my tongue to say only what is helpful and good for encouraging my brothers and sisters. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: The Law of the Lord is Perfect
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