A few years ago I had the privilege of discovering my spiritual gift. I have the gift of administration (that one actually surprised me) and the gift of teaching and encouragement. The gift of administration is my top gift but the other two are right up there. I figured I had the gift of teaching but never thought I'd have the gift of administration or encouragement. I was attending a church where most of the people had the gift of mercy. Now people with the gift of administration rarely, if ever, have the gift of mercy. Sometimes when you are leading people you have to make hard decisions that run all over people's emotions. You try not to, but sometimes, you have to. It was very liberating to find out I had these gifts because being surrounded by people with the gift of mercy they were constantly trying to make me feel like I should be more merciful. They were constantly despising my gift and I theirs, because I didn't understand them and they didn't understand me. When I realized that I had this spiritual gift and they had theirs I was better able to live with them and I stopped trying to fit in their merciful mold. I was free to be my bossy, teaching, encouraging self! If you have not discovered your spiritual gift, you really ought to. Email me at joshsrib@aol.com or my husband at pastor@jacksonparkbaptist.com and I of he can send you a spiritual gift test for you to take.
Because I now know my spiritual gift when I read my bible, verses about ruling, servant leadership, encouragement, teaching, jump out and really resonate with me. (Side note: the interesting thing about spiritual gifts is that even though we tend to have between 1-3 spiritual gifts, we are still commanded to do all of them, i.e. I'm still commanded to give and to be merciful and to help but I don't major on those areas. I like to think of the 80/20 principle, 80% of my time and effort goes into developing and deploying my spiritual gifts. 20% goes into the others.) Today I was reading in Proverbs. Actually this year I am seeking to be a more wise person so I have determined to read a proverbs a day for the entire year, reading the book of proverbs 12 times this year! I'm really excited for this, because I know when I get to Isaiah and Jeremiah, as I read chronologically through the bible, I will need the encouragement to stay with reading my bible and this will help me continue to get stuff out of God's word! God has already taught me so much in the first 12 chapters of Proverbs. I'm looking forward to reading it again and again in the coming months.
Today I read Proverbs 12:25. It says, "Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad." I thought I knew what that meant but just to be safe decided to look up the meanings in my blue letter bible app that has a concordance (a dictionary of sorts for the original words in the greek and hebrew). The following was quite enlightening:
Heaviness -
* Anxiety
* Anxious Care
* Fear
* Sorrow
In the heart -
* Inner man
* Mind
* Will
* Heart
* Understanding
* Soul
* Seat of Emotions
* Seat of Courage
Maketh it Stoop -
* Bow Down
* Depress
Good -
* Good
* Agreeable
* Rich
* Valuable in Estimation
* Appropriate
Maketh it Glad -
* To Rejoice
* Be Glad
* Cause to Rejoice
* Be Merry
Do you know people who are heavy in heart? depressed? I know so many. I was at a restaurant last night and the music was blaring above my head and I told my husband that it didn't sound triumphant or happy, Every song had a touch of sadness. I told him that if I listened to that kind of music all the time I would live in a state of depression. The sad thing is that a lot of the world and even a lot of christians feed themselves a steady diet of this music. I know a lady, who as soon as anything she doesn't like happens or if someone hurts her feelings she immediately turns to Youtube and Yahoo Answers for the answers to her "problems" that are often self inflicted. That is a sad way to live. It is a very unstable way to live. So many around us have heavy hearts. This makes them stoop. This makes them hang their heads and walk around depressed.
The amazing thing is that God gives us an answer for that! It says if ONE PERSON will say ONE good word then it can make their heart glad. That's encouragement people! That can be a good word, a pleasant word, an agreeable word. It can be a word rich in meaning. It can also be an appropriate word, i.e. you don't want to make jokes at a funeral, nor would you want to say a depressing word at the birth of a child. You get the point, appropriate for the time and place. But I like the "valuable in estimation". John Maxwell says we need to put a 10 on everyone's head. Whenever we meet someone put a 10 on their head. This is not being naive. It is not even being a optimist. I consider it to be a realist point of view. If you put a 10 on someone's head even if they are a 5 you might be able to raise them to the standard of a 8 or even a 10! When we say words that show people we hold them valuable in our estimation that can really change a heart! That can make a person be better than they would be if they are depressed! People always work better in a happy environment where they know they are thought best of!
Look at what happens when we do this?! We cause their hearts to be glad, to rejoice, to be merry! Another verse says that "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones." ~ Proverbs 17:22. You can turn a depressed, sad, heart into a merry heart with just a good word . . . you can be medicine to that hurt heart. You can help change a life! Be an encourager today! NOT a discourager! Watch your words. Are they good, pleasant, agreeable, rich, valuable in estimation and appropriate words? If not, change them today!
No comments:
Post a Comment