A young man stepped to the podium to sing a solo in the morning service.   I sat there on the front row, and along with the congregation, awaited a song that would cause us to look heavenward.  Oh boy!  The music was in one key and he was in another.  He left the music way behind and nothing fit together. Instead of causing us to be lifted heavenward, we all wished he would hurry and finish, which he did, way before the background music!

In a conversation I learned that the man loved to sing but was tone death.  He wanted us to be receptive but the wrong tone killed the whole thing.    The problem was not the message but the tone.  Tone has to do with using different elements: volume, speed, pitch of voice, body language and gestures, etc., to name a few.

We are in a time when we have to boldly stand for truth.  BOLDLY!   I refuse to accept what the Bible does not accept.  I understand everyone is not going to like my stand or agree with me. What I don’t want to do is add fuel to the fire by my tone.    We live in a time of too much anger and hostility.  Couples scream and yell at each other.  Politicians berate one another.   Christians “tell each other off”.   Facebook posts are often rudely stated.  People are quick to give the middle finger of fellowship.  Parents declare that the only way their children will listen is if they yell.   (By the way, that is only true if you conditioned them that way.)   God is saying to sing in one key, yet we often we sing in whatever key we want.  We have a tone problem.

I don’t want to be an angry, ugly, red-faced, condescending, name-calling, arrogant child of God.  I want to stand boldly for God.  I want to have the best relationships I can.  I want to be a good communicator of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  I might be rejected but I don’t want it to be because of my tone.    I want to set the right tone.  How about you?

While on a ministry trip to Ohio, I spent three nights in a hotel.  My schedule made it necessary to arise and shine early each morning!  I would go down to the breakfast room at 5:30 to get my anointed cup of coffee and read over my message.  There were two women who stocked the breakfast area, and they told me their day started at 4:30.   As I watched hotel guests eating breakfast, very little thought seemed to be given to these women.  It was not a “limelight” job.

God spoke to me to bless those two women daily with words of thanksgiving and praise, and I did.  The last morning, I felt God leading me to bring them a gift of thanksgiving.  As I placed it in their hands, I thanked them for a job well done.  I thanked them that I had fresh coffee so early in the morning.  They begin to grin, and you could almost see their shoulders lift.  I could see them in the back room, and as we say in the south, “they were tickled pink!”   I honestly think I was more blessed than they were.

We often think of great ministries or ministers as those who stand up front, those in the limelight.  I have certainly known great men and women of God who have gifts requiring them to stand in the limelight.  But, there is a ministry that is so needed in life today, and it’s a great ministry that all of us can do.  Don’t even take a spiritual gift test to see if you have it!  It is the ministry of EN-couragement!

Everyone, from babes to senior citizens, needs EN-couragement. To EN-courage is to put courage into someone. To DIS-courage is to take courage out of them.   You don’t have to go to seminary to have a great ministry!  Be an EN-courager!  Today speak a kind word; tell someone you appreciate them; say thank you to your boss; tell that nurse how much you appreciate her care; tell a child how glad you are God made them; post on someone’s Facebook complimenting them.  If you will look around today, you will have many opportunities to have a great ministry – the ministry of EN-couragement.

Show the love of God by being an EN-courager.  Make a point of putting courage into your spouse, your children, your friends, your pastor, your mentor, the clerk checking you out at the grocery store, the teller at the bank, the single parent and countless others.  Be a blessing today through EN-couragement.  Go out of your way to do it, and one wonderful thing that happens, is that in blessing others you will be blessed yourself.

“The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life …”  Proverbs 10:11