Pentecost 28 When Words Make a Difference

[HKHaugan]

Pentecost 28 When Words Make a Difference

Psalm 29
3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
the God of glory thunders,
the LORD thunders over the mighty waters.
4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
5 The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars;
the LORD breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
Sirion [b] like a young wild ox.
7 The voice of the LORD strikes
with flashes of lightning.
8 The voice of the LORD shakes the desert;
the LORD shakes the Desert of Kadesh.
9 The voice of the LORD twists the oaks [c]
and strips the forests bare.
And in his temple all cry, "Glory!"

“He speaks my language’ ‘We are on the same page’ ‘He’s a man after my own heart.’ 'We see eye to eye.' ‘I couldn’t have said it any better.’ ‘ I felt like he was speaking to me.’ All these express that there is common understanding. Words may have been said and accompanying expressions given but something deeper took place. There was an invisible mutual agreement, an inner chord sounded and an internal bond established. It’s great when that happens. There is a settling sense, a peace that says rightness is present.

Obviously, not every settled verbalized experience is true, right and perfect. Sin can play a role in how we accept words thrown our way. We can use the words of others to satisfy a selfish position as, for instance, when we have taken a political or emotional stand. But they only last for a moment and always seem to require a booster shot. There is still a lingering unfulfilled emptiness that yearns for a deeper touch.

However, there is a difference when you have heard something that makes the heart settled as opposed to the momentary self-satisfaction coming when someone agrees with you. It is the internal heart that responds to the lasting sense of having heard truth and allowing it to penetrate.

The reactions that people had to Jesus from among those who were both his friends and his enemies speak to the nature of the truth He was. The words He spoke were truths from the Spirit of Truth within Him. While we may speak in words that last seconds and are lost in the darkness between one moment and another, between one conversation and another, He speaks in words that not only bring light lasting between moments but also carry through from one generation to another. The same light of heart understanding that grips one person is transmitted across time, space and culture to another shining as bright in the one as in the other. That is the evidence of the Holy Spirit at work.

The questions for us today and every day, ‘Are we speaking words that will last or be forgotten in the drifting moments?’ ‘Will we bring light or dark into the world as we move about?’ What are the words we can share today that last above the political, economic, physical and emotional turmoil of the moment?

This is from the Message Bible, Col. 4:5-6 “Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.”

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