The Plumbline

Some people make cutting remarks, but the words of the wise bring healing. (Proverbs 12:18) Sarcasm is a deliberate attempt to poke fun at another or the actions of others. At times, it can be very subtle, said in jest, and without evil intent at all. An individual who is very good at sarcasm might just be holding audience on a stage somewhere right now as a 'stand-up comedian'. Among friends, an occasional sarcastic word might just be good humor - something you can laugh about together and nothing malicious was intended by the words. In the hands of a 'sarcastic individual', such as the comedian who earns a living pointing out faults, those same words may be cutting, rude, and demeaning. Words that cut into the emotional well-being of another are never healthy ones. They will hurt and not help. They won't strike a chord of 'happy feelings', but will leave the individual hurt, almost like they are 'bleeding' emotionally. There is wisdom in knowing...

Have you ever fallen behind? Your peers are so far ahead of you that you can barely see their backs any longer and you have 'forever' still to go...what is your reaction? You could just stop, sit down on the side of the trail, and give up - it would be the easiest thing to do after all. You could call out to see if anyone would come back to help you out a little, pulling you, pushing you, and somehow getting you to move again. You could even just cheat a little by just not even covering that ground your peers have covered and just jump ahead to wherever they are, but what would you have missed in the journey? It is easier to fall behind than to catch up. It is easier to feel defeat than it is to experience elation over success at times, isn't it? The thing is that God doesn't want us to be defeated in our walk, or even 'falling behind' in any respect. He wants us to be strong, encouraged, built up, and moving on. To that end, he provides us with not only the ...

So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.   ( 1 Thessalonians 5:11   NLT ) What does it mean to be encouraged? I have experienced the type of encouragement to say or do something that later I would regret, such as when someone "encouraged" me to eat dirt clods because it would show that I was "cool" and "fearless". I was encouraged to stay away from any drugs when I was coming through school, both by role models and those who loved me very much. We can be "encouraged" in many ways, but not all types of encouragement is really intended for our good, so we need to become wise in discerning when it is truly encouragement and when it is just unwise taunting or prodding. Persuasion is rarely the type of encouragement God intends for each of us to engage in as brothers and sisters in Christ. Persuasion has a bit of manipulation behind it - either because we want something to go our way, or we want the other ...