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For you are all children of the light and of the
day; we don't belong to darkness and night. So be on your guard, not asleep like
the others. Stay alert and be sober. Night is the time for sleep and the time
when people get drunk. But let us who live in the light think clearly, protected
by the body armor of faith and love, and wearing as our helmet the confidence of
our salvation. For God decided to save us through our Lord Jesus Christ, not to
pour out his anger on us. He died for us so that we can live with him forever,
whether we are dead or alive at the time of his return. So encourage each other
and build each other up, just as you are already doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:5-11 NLV). I have been
to a lot of funerals. And there are lots of flowers there, not just the kind
with petals, but verbal flowers. You hear people talking about how much that
person meant to them, about their strong points, about special qualities or
experiences that touched the life of the person talking. It would be very
affirming to the person if only they could hear it. If only they could, in
essence, smell all those flowers that are suddenly coming their way. Mother’s
Day is only a week away and I can't help but wonder if there are those who I
need to give some flowers to now, while they could still appreciate them? My
mother and mother-in-law are both deceased, but recently someone asked me what I
was going to do for my wife on Mother’s Day. My first thought was some flowers
and a special outing of some sort. That brought me to our reading today,
"Encourage one another and build each other up." That's one of those
commands from God that would be good to have up on the wall in a prominent place
either in your home, at church, or in your office. Too often,
we are very communicative about what we don't like that a person is doing. The
criticism, the put-down, the sarcasm, the complaint they all come pouring out
pretty quickly. But we ought to train our mind and mouth to look for and express
what we like about that person, what we should thank them for, or what they've
done that has helped us. We shouldn’t save that good stuff for the funeral.
The people in our personal universe are people in desperate need of regular
encouragement. How are you doing in giving it to them? Some of us came from a
background where there was little praise, little encouragement, so it's hard for
us to give what we never got. But you of all people should know how much it
hurts not to get it. Ask the Lord to give you eyes to see the positive in the
people around you and the words to tell them. When you praise someone, thank
someone, compliment someone, tell someone the good things you see in them, you
do what the Bible calls "building them up". The alternative, of
course, is tearing them down. However they may treat you, your job is to be like
Jesus and give them the gift of encouragement. Some of the difficult people in
your world may be difficult because they've had so little encouragement.
Whatever nice things you might say at a person's funeral, would you say them
NOW? A pile of flowers after they're gone won't do a thing for them. But your
flowers could make a BIG difference if you give the flowers to them when they
can still enjoy them.
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