How do you feel when someone tries to put you down? Then don’t do it to others! ‘Kind words bring life, but cruel words crush your spirit’ (Proverbs 15:4 GNT). You can crush someone with what you say, so be careful. Some of the people you meet each day need an emotional lift, so encourage them. ‘Righteous people know the kind thing to say, but the wicked are always saying things that hurt’ (Proverbs 10:32 GNT). Don’t be the kind of person who pounces on a weakness in someone. Maybe you do it in a joking way, but you do it, and you enjoy doing it.

In a cartoon, Charlie Brown is talking on the phone to a girl who says, ‘Guess what I’m running for? The Queen of the May at our school.’ Charlie Brown says, ‘That’s very interesting. Lucy has always been chosen at our school.’ The girl on the phone responds, ‘Your school has pretty low standards, huh, Chuck?’ After Charlie Brown hangs up, he looks at Lucy and says, ‘She says, “Congratulations!”’ Now, that’s diplomacy! It’s also supportiveness.

How supportive are you? If God gave you a pound for each kind word you said and took away a pound for each unkind word you said, would you be wealthy or poor? When the brothers who betrayed Joseph knelt before him in Pharaoh’s palace, he held the power of life and death over them. But he forgave them, was gracious towards them, and promised to take care of them. Supportive words can build a bridge in a strained relationship. So the word for today is – build people up.