The tongue can bring death or life…. Proverbs 18:21, NLT

In the throes of a major crisis in my 47th year, I spent several months with a Christian counselor. He questioned, he listened, he offered wisdom, and through it all helped me navigate the loss of a nearly two-decade marriage.

Of all the things he said to me that were helpful and healing, it was the words he uttered each time we parted that really spoke to the deepest need of my soul. This was his weekly benediction: “I’m for you.”

“I’m for you.”

Simple, yet profound, because in the midst of a trial, in the midst of a loss, we need to know that someone is for us. What my counselor demonstrated was the truth of the Proverb: “The tongue can bring death or life.” His efficacious words brought life—resurrection life—to my broken spirit.

We sometimes forget this enduring wisdom from Scripture. We forget the power that we have to speak life into someone who desperately needs it. We forget that we don’t have to be an expert in counseling or psychoanalysis, we just have to come alongside the hurting and let them know that we care, that we are “for them.”

Perhaps the primary place that we find that kind of genuine empathy is in our community of faith. The current viral crisis we are facing has caused us to realize (or re-realize) the true value of our church family. There’s a reason that the early Church met frequently; there’s a reason that the writer of Hebrews emphasized the regular assemblage of God’s people—because we really do need each other. We really are better together!

In that same passage in Hebrews 10, the author makes the point that when we gather, we are to “encourage one another.” Encourage one another. Encourage: put courage in. Build one another up. Speak life-affirming words to each other, because our “tongue can bring life,” and if ever there was a day when we need to both speak and hear encouraging words, it is today. Amidst the daily bombardment of bad news, we have the blessed privilege of sharing the Good News with our brothers and sisters (and the world at large).

May I “encourage” us to spend profitable time absorbing the wisdom, truth and life of the Holy Scriptures, so that when the opportunity presents itself we will be able to authentically speak words of life into one who may be discouraged and overwhelmed by trouble.

And further, we may be able to say to others, with all sincerity, “I’m for you.”

Be full of courage and life, my brothers and sisters. “I’m for you.”

A fellow beggar along the Way,

Greg

Words by Greg Tinker | Image by Blakeney Clouse