Learning About Kind Words: What Elisha Teaches Us

Whether you're riding to the pool, chilling in the kitchen with your cereal, or sitting under a tree with your favorite book, I'm Pastor Justin, and this is Carpooling with Jesus. Today's story, buckle up. It's one of the wildest little moments in the entire Bible. It involves a prophet, some kids, and a really bad choice of words. Oh, and baldness for real. Let's jump in. Today's verse comes from two Kings, two verse 23. This is what it says. Some small boys came out of the cities and jeered at him saying, get up bald head. Now here's what's going on, Elisha was a prophet. That means he spoke messages from God. People were supposed to listen to him, respect him, and trust that he was telling the truth from the Lord. But instead, a bunch of boys came out of the city and decided to mock him. They saw Elisha walking by and started yelling, hey, Baldy, go up. Baldy. Not once, but twice. They kept going. And this is genuine laughter, by the way. This is a funny story. And they didn't just say it, they jeered it. That means they were teasing and being mean on purpose. So that part actually isn't funny. It's not nice to be mean on purpose. Now, here's the part that might surprise you. God took this very seriously. Why? Because words matter. Respect matters. And those boys weren't just making a joke. They were rejecting someone God had chosen to lead. Have you ever said something just to be funny and then realized it actually hurts someone's feelings? Yeah, me too. I've done that before. Sometimes we think it's just a joke or they'll get over it, but guess what? Words are powerful. They can build people up or they can tear them down. Danny was the camp clown. He always had a joke ready and one day their substitute camp counselor showed up to their group. He was a nice older guy with some gray hair and some glasses. Danny whispered loud enough for everyone in the camp group to hear, hey look, it's grandpa. Everyone in the camp group giggled. Even the camp counselor gave it a little smile, but for the rest of the day, the camp counselor barely called on Danny to be first to do any of the activities, and at the end, Danny stayed behind to say, sorry. The camp counselor said, I'm not mad, but I wanted you to know something. Words stick. Even the funny ones, that moment stuck with Danny, he decided from that day he didn't wanna be known for tearing people down even as a joke. He wanted to be someone who builds people up. Here's the thing I want you to remember today. Kind words show a strong heart. You don't have to be loud to be strong. You don't have to be funny to get noticed. Jesus teaches us that what's in your heart comes out in your words, and he wants our hearts to be kind, respectful, and full of love. So look for opportunities to build people up with your words. If you have brothers or sisters, make sure you share something nice with them. Something to encourage them. Hey, when you see mom and dad later, say something unexpected to encourage them or build them up. And when you're out there playing and having fun at the pool or at your camp this summer, make sure you just look for opportunities to say something kind. Remember, no matter where you are, no matter how you're listening, God loves you. Parents, if you love this podcast, share it with some parent friends and before you go answer this question together, who is someone in your life that you can use kind words with today? Maybe someone who doesn't always get kind words that will help build them up. I'll see you tomorrow on Carpooling with Jesus.