Heavy Hearts and Magic Words

Happy Sunday. I received two of the nicest emails this week. One of the senders I knew, the other I'd never met that I know of. I officiated a funeral the other day, and the two who reached out went out of their way to send me a note of encouragement.

I know it didn't take a lot of time to send a message, but I truly appreciated the kind words. We all like that. Words are powerful. We can cause pain or joy with our words.

We can injure or we can heal. Today, I want us to look at these words from Proverbs 12:25. Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. Let me do that again.

Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. Let me ask you this. Do you think that the people around you need encouragement? I knew the answer before I asked the question.

Of course, the people around us need to be encouraged. This world can be downright cruel and discouraging. Depression or anxiety can stop us in our tracks. We need good words to help us in our journeys.

I spoke with a man recently that lost over $100,000 on a sketchy investment in cryptocurrency. He lost his job and he's looking for work and he's anxious to say the least. His heart is heavy. There are so many events that can rob us of our joy.

So many ways for us to be hijacked from happiness to despair. The walking wounded are all around us. In Proverbs 12:25, we're given a mission to shine light in this dark world. We are to share good words.

That's a great life mission. I once read that the applause of a single human is of great consequence. I believe that the applause of a single human is of great consequence. We need to be encouraers.

Another great verse from Proverbs is in chapter 25 11 and it says this, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold on a setting of silver." A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold on a setting of silver. Beautiful picture and one of my favorites verses in Proverbs. One of my favorite stories involving Jesus is found in John chapter 8.

I begin at verse one. While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives early in the morning, he came again to the temple. And all the people came to him, and he sat down, and he began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery.

And making her stand before all of them, they said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now, what do you say? They said this to test Jesus so that they might have some charge to bring against him.

John goes on and says, "Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and he said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." Once again, he bent down and rode on the ground. When they heard his words, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.

Then Jesus was left alone with the woman, standing right before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" And she said, "No one, sir?"

And then Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and from now on do not sin again. Love the story. This woman had every reason to be anxious, depressed, heavy-hearted, whatever you want to call it.

Her life was a mess. And now the leading men of her city are ready to have her killed. She was just a pawn in a game. Her accusers didn't care about her.

She wasn't their primary target. Jesus was. They were hoping to trick him into condoning adultery or into condoning murder. Now, it's interesting what Jesus did.

John tells us an interesting thing. He said, "Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground." What's that about? We're not told what he wrote.

>> Some guess that he was writing the sins of the accusers. Others say he was writing the names of the accusers. We don't know. We do know what he said.

Let anyone among you his who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her. And then things got quiet. Really quiet. You could likely hear the sounds of the men dropping their stones to the ground and shuffling off into the distance.

And I really love what Jesus said to the woman. John said Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and from now on do not sin again." Go your way and from now on do not sin again.

Earlier we wondered what Jesus wrote on the ground. it it really doesn't matter. Although that's been debated fiercely for generations. What really matters is what Jesus wrote on this woman's heart.

Go your way and from now on do not sin again. To this woman, this had to mean that she had a bright future. She was clean. She had a fresh, clean slate.

She had a future where she didn't have to do what she'd done in the past. That day, Jesus's words were apple of golds on a setting of silver. Back to our day and time. Use your words to lift others, not tear them down.

Send an email, make a call, write a note. Use your words. Anxiety weighs down the human heart, but a good word cheers it up. Pray with me.

Lord, we live around people that need cheering up. and help our words to be sincere and truthful and uplifting to people we know, to strangers we encounter. Lord, help us to make a difference as we give applause to those around us and point them towards you. In Jesus name I pray.

Amen. God bless. I hope you have the best week.