Day 20: BUILDING

Today’s guest post comes courtesy of my Personality Training mentor, Florence Littauer. Florence’s take on Ephesians 4:29 is one of my all-time favorite stories.

It was a Sunday morning in a traditional old New England style church, the kind where people come early to get back row seats. As I sat relaxed and grateful that I had one Sunday when I wasn’t scheduled to speak, I heard the pastor say, “I see that Florence Littauer is in our congregation this morning, and I think it would be nice if she came up and gave us a few words.”

Never at a loss for words, I stirred in my seat. As I started to rise, the pastor added, “In fact, why don’t we have Mrs. Littauer give the children’s sermon.”

The Children’s Sermon

I had never given a children’s sermon, and I thought to myself, There’s a big difference between saying a few words and delivering a children’s sermon.

What was I going to say? I sent up a “Lord help me” prayer as I walked forward, and instantly Ephesians 4:29 came to mind. The youngsters filled the empty front rows, and I turned to stand before them.

“This morning I’m going to teach you one verse that I taught my children. Do you think you could learn one verse?” They all nodded happily, and I was pleased that they were so responsive.

“Whenever we study a verse, we want to ask ourselves three things: what does it say, what does it mean, and how does it apply to me today?”

I then stated the verse:

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

Ephesians 4:29

When I asked if anyone knew what that verse meant, they all shook their heads.

“Let’s take it apart,” I suggested. “What is communication?”

They gave quick answers: talking, saying words.

“What is corrupt communication?”

A boy of about ten replied with a twinkle, “Bad words.”

“That’s right,” I said, “God does not want us to let any bad words come out of our mouth. What does he want us to say? Words that are good and that will edify. What does it mean to edify?”

Build Up

Deep looks came over their faces as they wondered what it  meant to edify. One girl spoke up. “Does it mean to build up?”

“That’s perfect,” I said enthusiastically. “We are not to say bad words but good words that will build each other up. Now what does it mean to minister grace?”

We discussed the fact that to minister is to serve and give to others. One of the older children spoke up and said, “We learned in Sunday school that grace is God’s unmerited favor.”

The others looked at her as if she were speaking a foreign language, but I congratulated her and amplified her statement. “That’s great. Grace is a gift we didn’t necessarily deserve.”

I then went on to explain that Paul wrote this verse to the church in Ephesus because he had heard that the nice people were saying unkind things about each other. Even though they were good Christians, they were saying bad words, and he had to give them some advice about what should come out of their mouths. He had to tell these well-meaning people to stop dropping bad words on each other and start giving out messages that would build each other up and do others a favor.

“Is it possible,” I asked, “that some of the good families in this church occasionally say things to each other that are not kind?”

The eyes of these little ones grew big, and some even nodded yes, it was possible.

“Let’s see now how this one verse applies to you and me. We’ve taken it apart to find out what it really teaches; we’ve seen what it meant to those ancient people in Ephesus; now what does it say to us good church-going people seated here today? What kind of corrupt communication or bad words are we apt to let out of our mouths?”

“Swearing. Vulgar language. Gossip. Talking down to others. Saying nasty words to your mother.”

They all gasped on this last one, and we all agreed that saying nasty words to your mother was definitely corrupt communication.

“How can we make our words good to the use of edifying?” I asked.

They gave an assortment of answers “Say nice things to others. Give out compliments. Be cheerful. Help our parents when they’re cranky. Tell the truth.”

Building Blocks

One boy spoke up, “Our words should be like building blocks.”

I was delighted with this simple, clear picture, “That’s a great idea. We should think of each word as a block, and we should keep adding good words to each other’s pile of blocks until the pile gets higher and higher.”

As I was demonstrating with my hands putting one block on top of another on this imaginary pile, a little boy called out, “And we shouldn’t go around and knock other people’s blocks down!”

They all giggled, and I latched on to his brilliant comparison. “What a great thought you’ve come up with! What a perfect picture! Here’s a whole pile of good words, and then someone comes along with a negative remark and it knocks all the blocks down.”

They got the message clearly, and I was delighted with this little group’s enthusiasm and participation. I then moved on to the last part of the verse that says our words should minister grace. I explained that when our words come out of our mouths, they should be like little presents all wrapped up to be given away.

Silver Boxes

The idea of presents brightened them all up. Then one precious little girl stood up, stepped into the aisle, and said loudly to the whole congregation, as if serving as my interpreter:

“What she means is that our words should be like little silver boxes with bows on top.”

As the adults nodded and murmured affirmations, I exclaimed, “What a beautiful thought! Our words should be gifts to each other, little silver boxes with bows on top.”

What more could I say?

The children had taught the verse to each other and to me in a way none of us could easily forget:

• We are not to say any bad, vulgar, unkind words.

• We are to think of each word as a building block, one on top of another, ever reaching higher and higher.

• We are never to go around knocking other people’s blocks down.

• We are to make sure our words are like little silver boxes with bows on top: verbal presents to encourage others.

(Can’t see the image? Click here to download Ephesians 4:29!)

 

Try this today:

Think of one person you can build up with a “silver box”…perhaps someone whose “blocks” you have “knocked over.” Find a way and time to give the gift of encouragement to this person today.

 

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