Uplifting Words

Last Sunday, my pastor spoke on the power of words and how they can be used to lift others up.

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."
-Ephesians 4:29

This got me thinking, as all good sermons do, how well do I use my words? How often do I "give grace" to someone with what I say? How often do I tear someone down, or say things I shouldn't? In my evaluation of myself, I fell squarely in the "not bad, but not good either" category. I found that I rarely have any real intention in what I say, particularly in the area of encouragement. There are a few cases where I make sure I give compliments, but those are somewhat isolated.

What about my friends? My roommates? My church family?

The purpose of this post isn't to share my own soul-searching, but to ask the question: how often are you intentional in what you say? I know I'm not, and I think my relationships have suffered for it. Or at least not been as full as they could have been. I may not think of myself as a drag to be around, as many of you may also think about yourselves, but just think - how much more life could we bring to the people around us if we were intentional in being uplifting with our words?

With this in mind, the following Proverb really jumped out at me:

"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down,
    but a good word makes him glad."
-Proverbs 12:25

I know I have anxiety weighing me down, and so does everyone else. Wouldn't it be great to have some of that lifted? To not be weighed down so much?

Yeah, that would be great.

Do it for someone else.

We can't make others build us up with their words, but we can be intentional about what we say. We can choose to use our words to lift another up, and make them glad.