A Knack for Building Up

In a Charlie Brown comic, Linus asks his big sister Lucy, “Why are you always so anxious to criticize me?” Lucy, looking very self-righteous, replies, “I just think I have a knack for seeing other people’s faults.” Linus looks indignant. “What about your own faults?” he asks. “I have a knack for overlooking them,” says Lucy.

Isn’t that the way it is sometimes? We get so familiar with each other, especially with people we love, that we take each other for granted. And we forget…. We forget… that our words make an impact.

On the other hand, our words have the potential for building up. At the weddings in which my friend Roger Kunkel officiated, he would always tell couples to be each other’s best cheerleaders. He would go on to remind them that there is already so much out there in the world that will try to pull them down. Roger would say, “So make the effort to encourage each other and build each other up.”

Roger’s words are echoes of the Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:11, “Encourage each other and build each other up…” In Ephesians 4:29 he writes, speak “only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.”

I love the idea that our words can give grace to those who hear…

Grace comes from the Greek word Charis – meaning gift. Scholars tell us the word can be translated: joy, pleasure, acceptance, undeserved favor.

I wonder who you know who needs to hear words that bring joy, acceptance, encouragement, or unmerited favor… In other words, I wonder who needs to hear words of grace from you today…

Let us pray: Loving God, we thank you for friends and family. May your grace flow through us to them. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.