"Edify"

 It’s what I thought, their drift I caught,

Their words and what they meant,

Drilled my heart, took me apart,

And no doubt were hell-bent.

But I was wrong, for oh so long,

Not what they said at all,

But gossip sure, and so impure,

Set loose this rolling ball.

Repeated twice, and at least thrice,

Changed everything they said,

Turned out that they, did never say,

What mouth to mouth was spread.

And finally, when it got to me,

Became what caused me pain,

Now I must go and let me know,

And make things very plain.

That I did wrong, to think so long,

That they had said these things,

Apologize to all those guys,

And ask for what peace brings.

Learn once more that we’re at war,

With the father of all lies,

Distorts, deceives what we perceive,

And constantly he tries,

The truth to hide, and then divide,

Believers from each other,

Steal and kill, with poison fill,

Turn us against our brother.

Lord, let Your love from up above,

Teach us to edify,

Give unity, and help us see,

Your glory from on high.

“Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” (Ephesians 4:29, NLT)

You know the game of passing a whisper from person to person around a circle, which ends up being something totally different from the first whisper? Caution must be given with what we say and how we say it. All too often it becomes a damaging, degrading, destructive instrument in the devil’s hands to tear someone down instead of building them up. Paul says we should use our words to help one another. It was true back then and it is still true today. Our culture has become very contentious and argumentative. If we learn to edify people and encourage them with our words, we will be different from almost everyone else. It’s something the Lord will use to bring people to His saving, transforming, healing grace.

Lord, help us encourage one another, in Jesus’ name.

Art by Mark Maggiori, markmaggiori.com. Used by permission. Thanks, Mark, and God bless you.