Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down,But a good word makes it glad.With our recent elections behind us, I am finding some reduction of anxiety and worry among the people I speak to throughout the week, but I am still finding a lot of anxious people. As the holiday season approaches, new stresses will weigh on people's hearts. There is the stress of hosting holiday parties, the stress of visiting family, the stress of cooking a perfect turkey, the stress of buying gifts for the kids, the stress attending all the social events of the season, the stress of attending the kids' Christmas performances, and the stress of closing out a business year while juggling all these other responsibilities. People are anxious. Their hearts are burdened.
Maybe this describes you. Maybe it describes someone you know.
The writer of Proverbs 12 seems to know people carrying similar stresses and anxieties. And the writer has also observed a remedy -- a good word.
It is amazing what a word of encouragement and affirmation can do. You can alter someone's whole day with a good work spoken at the right time.
Can you think of someone who needs a good word today?
Can you be the one to deliver it?
Isaiah 52:7 says:
How lovely on the mountainsMaybe today you need to receive such a word. Jesus is speaking such words, and his words are life to our bodies and souls. That's why we call the message of Jesus "Gospel." Gospel means "good news." It is a good word to our anxious hearts. It is hope in the midst of despair. It is life when the circumstances of life are killing us.
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who announces peace
And brings good news of happiness,
Who announces salvation,
And says to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'
Hear the good word of Jesus today. He loves you. He has a purpose for you. He will not abandon you. In him, there is forgiveness and freedom. In him, your past does not have to define you or weigh you down. In him is the good word of eternal and abundant life!
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