Christian living – Peter Gowesky

Sweet Like Honey: The Power of Gracious Words

May 14, 2025 No Comments

There’s not much in this world I enjoy more than a good spoonful of honey on some yogurt. It’s nature’s perfect food—rich, sweet, and somehow still pure. It doesn’t spoil. It doesn’t rot. It never goes bad. In fact, honey has been found in ancient tombs—still good. That’s wild!

The Bible actually uses honey as a metaphor more than once, but one of my favorite verses is Proverbs 16:24:

“Gracious words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” (NIV)

Let that sit with you for a second. Sweet to the soul. Healing to the bones. That’s the power of a kind word.

Think back—has someone ever spoken something over your life that stuck with you? Maybe it was a parent who told you they were proud of you, a coach who believed in you, or a friend who reminded you that you’re not alone. Those words don’t disappear after they’re spoken. They settle deep into your soul. They fuel you on hard days. They come to mind when you need a reason to keep going.

That’s the gift of gracious words.

And let’s be honest—those words aren’t just nice. They’re healing. They’re good for your mental health. They restore your sense of worth. They breathe life when the world feels heavy. That’s what Scripture is getting at here.

But here’s the flip side. We can’t just sit around waiting to receive gracious words—we’ve got to give them too. If your words were a condiment, what would they be—honey or hot sauce? One soothes, the other stings. One brings comfort, the other can cause a firestorm.

Here’s the truth:

Our words are never neutral.

They either build someone up or break someone down. They either leave a sweet taste or a bitter aftershock.

And in a world that often rewards sarcasm, gossip, or the perfectly timed come-back, gracious speech is more than countercultural—it’s spiritual.

So here’s the challenge:

Speak life today.
Call out the gold in someone.
Be intentional with your tone and your text messages.
Encourage the coworker, the spouse, the child, the barista—whoever’s in front of you.

Don’t underestimate the impact your words can have on someone’s soul. What you say might just be the exact thing they needed to hear.

In Faith in Real Life

The Virus of More: Confessions of a Materialism Battle

October 8, 2013 No Comments

It’s hard for me to look at a Range Rover and not want one. Their lines are smooth, they look Uber comfortable, and I feel like I can take on a mountain with it and win. The other morning a Range Rover cut me off on my way to a meeting with a good buddy of mine. I felt everything inside of me tense up. Maybe that was because I was running 10 minutes late to my meeting or maybe it was because he had something that I wanted. It was hunter green, and it was new. The windows were tinted out, and the rims were classy. The only thing that my car and his car have in common is the color of the paint. My rims are not so classy, my windows are not so tinted, and I most certainly could not take on a mountain and win.

Welcome to my internal struggle with materialism. Materialism is the virus that grows inside of you convincing your mind that you need more and more and more. Materialism not only affects your mind, It affects your eyes too. They begin looking around at the things that you already have and it causes you to see them as old and out dated. It’s like a set of contact lenses that magnifies every ding, imperfection, tear, or sign that your stuff hasen’t been unwrapped from their cellophane covering in a long time.

I’m pretty convinced that materialism has been fed to us by the mass market like small pox blankets were to the Native American’s. The more we watch and believe the commercials, the more we itch with the need to buy the latest and the greatest. Be careful my friends! You don’t need to drive what turns you on. You need to drive what gets you there. There is a big difference between need and want. We get those two things mixed up very easily. That’s part of the game of the materialism virus- it makes it harder to keep your head on straight.

Richard Foster writes about the materialism virus. He says this,

This psychosis permeates even our mythology. The modern hero is the poor boy who purposefully becomes rich rather than the rich boy who voluntarily becomes poor. Covetousness we call ambition. Hoarding we call prudence. Greed we call industry.

It is time to set possessions in their proper place. It is time to find joy in the abundant gifts that God has given us. After all Jesus said in Luke 12:15, “Take heed, and beware of all covetousness; for a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” The writer of Hebrews says, “Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, ‘I will never fail you nor forsake you'” (Heb. 13:5)

I’m praying that God shows me that it is more about the people around me than the possessions in my home. I bet I’m not alone in this struggle… Where are you at with it?

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Escaping the Comparison Trap: Becoming Who God Made You to Be

September 30, 2013 No Comments

Have you ever felt like you just weren’t enough? I’ll be honest, there are times when I struggle feeling like I am enough. I wonder am I good enough, am I strong enough, am I smart enough, am I thin enough, am I ______________ enough. You fill in the adjective, I’ve wondered about it. Jon Acuff said recently, “Don’t compare your beginning to someone else’s middle.” That’s tough for me.

Theodore Roosevelt said, “Comparison is the thief of joy”. How true is that?

I was reading through Romans 12 the other morning when I came across verse 2 and it struck me in a whole new way.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2 (the Message)

What a great reminder! When I begin to play the comparison game and wonder where I am not measuring up I need to remember these few things…

1. Be Unique

Our world loves to put people into little boxes and categories. If you dress a certain way, that means you are hipster, nerdy, sporty, or chic. If you like to recycle you are a green tree hugger. If you are a hunter you clearly don’t love animals. Come on! There are so many different pressures that we face. The media, our peers, and the world around us want to desperately form us into their mold. You don’t have to fit in that mold.

2. Be Flexible

God wants to transform you into a different person. You don’t have to be like everyone else because God is in the business of making you, you. The old me is exactly that- old. It’s time to bring on the new. This will happen over time and it will happen because He begins to change your thought process. There are times when you need to be willing to not always be right, or change the way that you think about things.

3. Be Teachable

When you step back and see what God has been doing in you, the ways that He has been molding and shaping you, all of the experiences that you have had, and all of the pain that you have gone through, it is a little easier to see what God may want to do through you. The last part of that verse says that you will begin to see what God wants to do through you, in you, and with you. It will require you to be teachable.

I can easily get caught up in the comparison trap. It is not a fun place to be. I’m thankful that God doesn’t want us to stay there and provides a way out of it!

~Peter