"Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones."
Proverbs:16:24

Have you ever seen a balloon that has been punctured by a fingernail or object?  It only takes one little hole in the balloon to deflate it.  It may take a while for it to completely deflate but eventually all the air goes out.  You may try to patch it with something and it might help for a while but doesn't last.

It is the same with our hearts.  When someone says something negative to us, a sarcastic remark, a discouraging word, or something that pulls us down, that is all it takes.  It only takes one discouraging or sarcastic remark to put the hole in our hearts.  That is why it is so important to choose your friends wisely.

People can try to encourage us and tell us not to listen to those people who delight in putting us down, but the hole is already there and nothing anybody says or does can take the hole out of our hearts.  Jesus is the only One Who can reach down His Healing Love and completely make our hearts new.

Someone told me that I had written something in a writing that I had already put in another writing.  I was unaware of it, but I think the reason I used the same illustration is first of all, when I write I have no idea what I am saying until I read it back.

Second, God probably inspired me to use the same illustration because of what a Pastor said in a sermon I heard years ago.  He said, "I've had a lot of people ask me why I preach almost the same message Sunday after Sunday.  It is because God told me to preach it until you grasp it and employ it in your daily lives."

Please don't say things to discourage people.  Joyce Landorf says on one of her teaching tapes: "Men and women are leaving full time ministry in droves because we have not encouraged them."

I urge you to be an encourager of others.  Let's start building people up instead of putting them down.

March 16, 2005