To Save Just One

I noticed that many visits to this site came from searches related to encouraging words for a friend.  All of us need encouragement sometime, and it’s nice to be able to offer encouragement to dear ones when it’s needed. 

I share with you an inspirational poem you may be able to use to encourage someone you love who doesn’t recognize right now his or her true worth. 

Please let me know what you think.  I’d love to hear your comments.

To Save Just One

Through the reflection in the mirror
She believes her worth is told.
Imperfections or perfections
Equal dross or equal gold.

Then she judges of her value
By the beauty of her face.
Yes, she thinks it’s all determined
By her figure or her grace.

But God sees more than skin alone,
That’s why He sent His son–
Not to save the perfect person,
But to rescue everyone.

Christ knelt to suffer all our pains.
In agony He bled.
Then He rose to meet betrayal
With saddened heart and humbled head.

Soldiers stripped Him, whipped and beat Him;
Friends denied Him, strangers mocked.
He submitted to the torture
Knowing to His death He walked.

He died with hopes of saving many,
Yet He’d die to save just one.
He thought a single soul more precious
Than all the wealth by nobles won. 

My friend, that single soul is yours.
Christ bought your life with love.
He saw worth in you greater than
A mirror could e’er dream of.

–Brandan Hadlock

Encouraging Words from a Friend

Friends can provide wondeful encouragement.  I talked with a friend today about my desire to produce Christ-centered, good media.  She thought it was a wonderful idea and encouraged me to do it.  

She said, “It’s a critical thing you’re doing and I really hope you do it, ” and “We’ve got to save these people.” 

We’ll we can’t save these people, but Christ can.  And we can help them learn about and follow Him.  

My friends words were so good for me to hear.  I think we all need to hear about the importance of our dreams.  To hear someone really believe in what I want to do and to hear her that she believes there is a true and urgent need for it was motivating and nourishing.

We all need encouragement and motivation.  It’s important to surround ourselves with people who will help us be happy and do what is right.  Our friends really do influence us and as I’ve read stated elsewhere (in other words, this is someone else’s thought, but I know it’s true), when we’re vacillating, what we end up doing — whether good or bad — can depend on the close friends we keep.   Good friends can help us make right decisions.  Bad friends might cause us or support us in doing bad. 

Choose your friends wisely.

Thank you, Gloria, for your encouragment this morning!

Spam, Encouragement, & Repentance

I found a comment today to a post that had been tagged as spam.  But it wasn’t spam.  It was a beautiful comment that inspired me.  So I deleted the spam and posted the good comment. (see the comment here)

The influences around us are a lot like that.  We are surrounded by that which is bad or worldly.  We need to quickly delete those bad influences and protect ourselves from them.  We also need to hold fast to the good. 

Taken from another angle, I didn’t notice that good comment until months after it was posted.  I don’t know now when the truely spam messages were left because I already deleted them.  Those spam messages, or at least one of them, could have been sitting in the spam box for months too.

Each of us has been given the Spirit of Christ, or a conscience, that allows us to know good from evil.  We need to examine our lives, like I looked at the spam box, to see what is good or bad.  If there is bad in our lives, we should repent immediately.  Christ’s atonement can then delete the bad stuff and make us clean.  Where there is good in our lives, we should give thanks to Him from whom all goodness flows.