A Good Word Brings Joy

Proverbs 12:25

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Years ago, when I was in seminary, I remember one of our professors giving us this advice. He told us to save the cards and letters and emails in which people gave us compliments and to throw away those that gave us criticisms. Part of the reason for us to save those letters and cards and emails was so that we would have something to look at when we did receive criticisms from members of our church.

I have to be honest that I haven’t received so many letters that I’ve kept over the years but those I have, I have treasured. And I’ve often looked at them again and again for words of encouragement, maybe at times when I have felt discouraged.

Why could it be so difficult for us to hear criticism? Well, I think a big part of the reason is not only is that person telling us of our ports and failures, but we already have a voice that reveals our faults and failures to us. That’s an internal voice that each and every one of us hear is that every time that we do a project or have a performance and so forth, we recognize our errors, we recognize our mistakes and we beat ourselves up internally for making them.

How important then it is to hear compliments. In Proverbs 12 verse 25, it says this

Anxiety in a person’s heart weighs him down, but a good word brings him joy. (Proverbs 12:25 EHV)

We can think about that internal voice that we have. Maybe can bring about anxiety over all of the things that we’ve messed up, things that we’ve done wrong. But how positive a good word can be, how that can bring joy to someone and encourage them in their work to do even better. Yes, compliments are certainly a good thing to hear, but you know what? Even the best of compliment isn’t going to totally silence that voice inside.

We’re always going to hear that voice that brings up our faults and failures and sin. But there is a good word that can silence that voice, a good word that does truly bring joy. That good word is the Gospel. It’s the message that Jesus is our Savior from sin. That Jesus lived a holy and perfect life flawlessly, never once doing anything wrong. Never one’s making one mistake. And he did it for you and for me to cover all of our mistakes, to cover all of our sins, everything that anyone would ever criticize us for Jesus did it perfectly and right, and he covers us now with his perfection, holiness, and righteousness.

What comfort we can find in that good news to know that God doesn’t see our sins, our folds, our failures, our mistakes, but through faith in Christ, he sees only Jesus’ holiness and righteousness. And he assures us, in his word, we are his dearly loved children. What comfort that brings to us and joy, even though we know our mistakes, we know our faults and failures. We know that we have a Savior who covers them all. And we know that we are right in God’s sight because of him. Amen.