Glitter
by Jim Person
I recently travelled to Las Vegas, Nevada, and had an opportunity to go down to the famous Las Vegas strip. The glamour and flashy, false facades that lined the streets seeped into the people who thronged the sidewalks. People were focussed on the glitter and lights, and more than once I noticed people arguing, mostly about money. The whole atmosphere was electrified with the anticipation of what a person might win or get for themselves. It was a very self-centred focus, which permeated and saturated everyone and everything.
The more flashy the performance, or a person’s words were, the more the people were drawn to it. If you ventured into one of the many casinos that lined the way, your senses were instantly bombarded with glimmering gold and loud sounds from machines and people. It literally overwhelmed your whole being, and threatened to sweep you into its settings of gold, with the whisper of riches around every corner.
Quite the opposite is found in the Bible when riches are mentioned. The Bible seems to point more to what comes out of a person than what a person may acquire for themselves. God’s more concerned about the fruit which comes out of a person.
One area which really impresses me is when I see someone speaking truth into another person and building them up. This leads to real life, not the false facades of glitter and lights, but the deep rivers of well-spoken words.
I love it when the right word is spoken at the right time, because it’s like a custom-made piece of jewellery, given freely. And a wise and caring friend’s timely reprimand is like a gold signet ring from the King of kings, slipped on to your finger.
How often do you seek to speak life into another? I want to encourage you to ask God to give you a timely word for someone this week, a word that builds up and gives life.
Prayer: Lord, help me to weigh my words, and to make sure I’m aligning myself to Your Spirit’s leading. I want my words to be like apples of gold in settings of silver, so I bring life with a well-spoken, timely word of encouragement to someone. Thank You, Jesus. Amen.
Jim Person Jim grew up in Alaska and from a small child commercial fished every summer with his family. God called him, his wife Tanya, and their four children to move to Hungary as missionaries in 2003. God then led him to join Ellel Ministries in 2005. After serving in various positions with Ellel in Central and Eastern Europe, God led them back to the United States, where he is now serving with the Ellel USA team. Jim and Tanya have a passion to see leaders restored, the church discipled and walking in God’s fullness of life and freedom. They also love mentoring the existing and developing Ellel teams wherever God leads them. Jim also has a real gift for working with the land to create a beautiful and welcoming environment.
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