The Pilgrim Path---Proverbs 16: 24

“Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

“…LIKE A HONEYCOMB”

My Fifth-Grade teacher (Mrs. Tabor) made you work hard. But she cared about you. She had us read from Good News for Modern Man every now and then---to start the day (the American Bible Society’s New Testament---for Today’s English Version---around 1966). She told me once, “You have some talent. God gave it to you. Use it for Him.” My---you remember things like that! My Sunday School teacher in 9th-10thgrade ---took me aside and said something like this, “You know---You should consider some kind of vocational Christian Service---for your life. Pray about that. I’m going to be praying about that with you---and for you.” What? You mean people “watch” you ---and may want to benefit you? Even help “direct” you as a follower of Jesus Christ? Maybe even bless you---encourage you? I hope so---and I hope you will be an encourager for the rest of your days. Think about the “honeycombs” you are going to give away in Jesus’ Name. People desperately need them…

From Josh Moody: Facebook, Twitter, email, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, all provide opportunities for instantaneous communication to vast numbers of people. They magnify and multiply speech, for good or ill. The potential for gossip has never been greater. All these media tools can be used to disseminate the message of Christ, but they can also spread a viral contagion of divisive and damaging talk. During the social distancing introduced by governments in the Covid-19 pandemic, people used social media to build connections, encourage and inform others---when corporate gatherings were so limited. Social media makes an excellent tool when used for these purposes. However, people can utilize the same Internet technologies to become cowardly slanderers hidden behind a keyboard. What is the line from those superhero movies? Stan Lee coined the phrase: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Each of us with a phone today has great power. There is more computing RAM in one of those phones than was used to send a man to the moon! You can communicate with thousands of people at the touch of a button. Commit, would you commit, to putting away divisive speaking, texting, and typing, slander of whatever kind?

From Jon Kelly: “Be surgeons, not butchers.” Both butchers and surgeons use sharp knives and objects to cut, yet both cut in different manners, with contrasting goals in mind. Life is not the desired outcome of the butcher’s blade. There is no gentleness or concern for the object being cut. Surgeons, on the other hand, cut with great care and gentleness because their goal is to heal and not kill. Surgeons cut as necessary for what is helpful to preserve life. The surgeon’s cuts may hurt and lead to months of recovery for the individual experiencing the surgery, but people are willing to lay on the operating table and be cut because they know that the surgeon wants to see them healed. No one desires to lay down on a butcher’s table. We often forget that the way in which we communicate truth either validates or diminishes the gospel message that we preach…

From John Duncan: It is lust that is self-aggrandizing, not love.

From Samuel Rutherford: Send a heavy heart up to Christ, it shall be welcome.

Grace and Peace in Jesus, the Only Redeemer of broken and wretched souls, Pastor Jason