You are courageous.

It was 2015 and there was some sort of sport playing happening, I had a new group of friends that I’d be serving with that summer and my only experience prior to this moment in creating friendships was banter. Now, good banter that’s not at the expense of another person is one thing, but saying, “I just don’t like you” as a bridge building approach to friendship is a poor tactic, to say the least (thanks for your grace, Zeke). I can look back on that moment and realize now how much words do matter, and how God takes them seriously. He refers to Himself as the Word (John 1:1). His Word of truth has been preserved for thousands of years for our encouragement, rebuke, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The gentleman that I insulted with my words is now one of my best friends, and we laugh about this story often; the God who’s Word I’ve disobeyed readily and eagerly embraces me as smiles as I approach finding right relationship with Him.

In March of 2020 God gifted me with one of the biggest pieces of tangible encouragement that I’ve ever received from Him. A quality lunch conversation with the President of my organization about faith, church, and life became quickly one of those moments to be forever ingrained in my memory. “You are courageous,” he said to me. If you follow this blog, you know of my proclivity toward fearfulness. I’m not afraid to give a speech or jump out of a plane, but the thought of slowly losing close friendships is one that haunts me and agonizes me. Notice I said the thought of – it’s the what if that gets me. I fear the what if. But I don’t have too because the God who was in the beginning, that made all things, that lived as fully man without sin so that I could experience true life tells me not to fear in His Word. It’s true. He commands us to not fear. After a decade of trying to figure out how to not fear, three simple words spoken over me made it click. God used another child of His to offer three words that made years of apprehension, sin, belief in lies, and fear come into perspective and be dealt with. I am courageous.

The way that COVID-19 has uprooted normal life has given me some time to think about words, and their weight. God takes His Word seriously, and He sums up 613 provisions of the Mosaic Law (that we literally could not fulfill on our own) into two very practical commands, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

Love God, love others. If God refers to Himself as the Word, and provides us a means of pursuing life-indeed through it, then why as Christians would we not showcase His love through our own words? Speak words of life and truth to your people, and do so frequently. You never know what God might use them for. How? Just tell someone you love that you do, or explain to them why they matter to you. Encourage, uplift, teach, rebuke, and love through your words. It’s God’s model.

Thank you, Ezekiel Jonas Griffith for being gracious at the beginning of our friendship, and for being a pillar of strength in my life ever since.

Thank you, William Dudley Callison for speaking the truth that I am courageous over me. I know Jesus better because of how you openly and obediently pursue Him and showcase His model of life and ministry.