“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV)
Some problems seem unsolvable, until someone comes along who has been through the same thing, and tells us it will get better. Whether it’s a kind word or a kind action, it certainly lifts our spirit. Every random act of kindness makes the world a better place, and words of encouragement have a positive impact, leaving a mark on someone’s life.
This week my friend from Israel called to vent his frustration while his condominium building is still under construction. Most residents have moved out during the remodeling project, but my friend, Larry, cannot move out. He is 72, and has been handicapped for most of his life, with a weak arm and leg. He chose to tough it out during the inconvenient construction period, but it’s definitely beginning to stress him out.
During our phone call, Larry also told me about a water filter technician, named Tomer, who came to his house to switch out his water filter system for a more updated one. Tomer observed the chaos that Larry is living in, and how he is barely able to venture outside or go to synagogue, which he used to do every Friday evening for Sabbath.
After Tomer finished switching out the water filter equipment, he returned shortly afterward, with a large container of prepared meals for Larry to celebrate the sabbath with. It was enough food for two days. Since Larry is so isolated and shut in, that was an incredible blessing to receive from a total stranger. Tomer’s kindness to Larry, was totally unexpected and left a mark on him.
In Israel, it’s called a “mitzvah,” meaning a good deed. I told Larry that maybe God is trying to tell him something through Tomer, that “Things are going to get better.”
Kind people like Tomer give us hope that there is still good in the world. I believe it is God who inspires people to do random acts of kindness for total strangers. They leave their mark on others, by saying or doing something that encourages and lifts their spirit.
Stephen Colbert, in a recent YouTube interview, shared how he was influenced by some random acts of kindness, in his personal journey of faith. There was a pivotal moment in his life when he was struggling with his faith in God, after graduating from college. He was unsure of anything he ever once believed, though raised in a Catholic family, as one of 11 children. His father and two brothers were tragically killed in an airline crash when he was only ten, but his mother never departed from her faith and was always a strong Christian example to her family.
One day, he was given a Bible by the Bereans on the streets of Chicago. He was working in the city, at his first job after graduating, but considered himself an agnostic. He randomly opened that bible the Bereans gave him, to a page where Jesus talked about not being “anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself”. Somehow, those words spoke deep within his heart about his own anxieties and Stephen began to find his way back to faith in Christ. Not long afterward, he lost that bible.
One day, he was riding public transportation to his job, and a young woman sat next to him on the bus, and began reading her bible. Stephen couldn’t hold back and said to her, “I once had a bible just like that, but I lost it.” The woman smiled and said, “Here, take mine.” She gave him her bible, without a second thought. He never even asked her name, but to this day, over 40 years later, Stephen Colbert still has that woman’s bible, filled with all her hand written notes in the margins. Today, he fully embraces his Christian faith with no hesitations.
I found that story so touching, which shows how a total stranger can randomly leave their mark of encouragement on someone else. Every mark of encouragement we leave, reaps a heavenly reward. In the midst of all the chaos in the world, we are still called to build people up, one person at a time. If the angels rejoice in heaven over one soul who finds their way back to God, then any mark we leave, is of immeasurable value.
We may unknowingly say or do things that leave our mark on someone else’s life. If we try to see a person through God’s lens, instead of through a political lens, or labeling them into groups of us against them, good things begin to happen. Jesus saw people as individuals, not Jews, gentiles, Samaritans, pious believers or sinners. He wanted to encourage and build up the faith of anyone who faltered. We leave a mark by letting someone know that whatever trouble or doubts we have, it will get better when we put our faith in God.
Lord, help us to do and say whatever may lift the spirits of others we meet, so that we can leave a mark for your glory, upon someone who needs it today. Amen
