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So, from time to time, things happen that I think are really funny, and they're probably things that other people wouldn't find funny, but I have a weird sense of humor. For example, somebody wrote a comment on one of the YouTube shorts the other day that said something like, "All this guy ever does is preach the milk. Where's the meat?" And I I busted out laughing when I saw that. I I didn't get upset at all. I thought it was hilarious because there's over 600 videos of meat and 10 books at this point, but you know, he probably didn't know that. And so that was really funny to me because usually I get criticized on the other way. And I I felt a little like when when Jesus was saying to the Pharisees, you know, you criticize John the Baptist for not drinking and for fasting all the time and you criticize me for drinking and not fasting. Which is it? Pick one. You know, you guys are impossible to please. So anyway, I just thought it was funny. And I got an email from someone recently and the email was not funny. And actually, this this lady was in deep distress and it, you know, my heart went out to her because she's been very kind to me. She's been very generous and I could tell she was hurting and I I wished I could do something about it. So, um, but it it was one of the things that she said in her not funny email. You know, I still think that that that you can find humor in funny places. And she was upset. Um, so she probably didn't really mean this, but she said, you know, on all of your channel, she was kind of upset about something I had said in in one of the videos about women in marriage. And she's had a lot of struggles with that that aren't her fault. And I understand I understand where she's coming from. But she said, "Show me one uplifting presentation for women on your channel." And my response to that was, "Pick one. They're all that way. They all fit the bill, right? And so you might bristle at that. Not her, but but people might bristle at that. And so this this presentation is on what it means to be uplifting because, you know, we we get into we fall into pits with the language that we use because it's easy to adopt the things that other people would say without necessarily thinking through what we're trying to say for real and what we're saying instead and what it actually means and everything else. And that's it's important because if you really want to find what you're looking for, you're going to need precision. So, what does uplift mean? Well, it maybe it's better to start this talking about what the word uplift does not mean. And this is where we get to being careful about what we what we say. It doesn't mean to affirm someone's vain imaginations or to gratify their pride. So these are scriptural phrases. So but let's let's define them so we don't fall into the trap of just using words without thinking about what we're saying. Let's start on gratify pride. So pride is an incorrectly inflated idea of self. And to gratify means to please, indulge, soothe, humor, etc. To gratify pride means to constrain one's words and actions to what affirms another's incorrectly inflated idea of self. I'm going to say that again because it's it's a lot. To gratify pride is to constrain one's words and actions to what affirms another's incorrectly inflated idea of self. So we just take pride, gratify, put them together. This is absolutely positively not a loving thing to do. It's not a Christlike thing to do when you undertake to cover your sins or to gratify your pride. or when anyone else does that, that is orthogonal to the Lord's purpose. Okay, you can read more about that in DNC 12137. What about vain imaginations? That's a contrivance of the mind that's contrary to reality. So, for example, false beliefs or the desires they cause or the offense that they cause. So, if you're offended at something, the odds are high that that's connected to beliefs that you have that aren't true. They might be beliefs about yourself, other people, the world, all the above. So vain imaginations are not good and it's not loving to allow people to persist in incorrect ideas about themselves, others or reality or desires that that point to what they don't actually want if they knew more details about it. If they're more accurate in their understanding of those things. And it's not good for people to be offended at the truth or at what is good. It's not good for people to call good evil and evil good. So there's a really good passage in Romans chapter 1 19 through 24 and it talks about how when we don't submit to what God tries to teach us that he makes evident to us we prefer prefer our own wisdom to his. And when we do that, what we do is we turn out of his path of blessing and protection and into what we definitely can't handle by ourselves. And it's a bad move. So, here's a challenge that I have for you. When you encounter something that someone does or says that you don't like, don't just tear it down. First, find or become something better. This will help you to start at reality rather than just your imagination of how things might be or your wishes and attempting to retrofit to reality which almost never works out well. All right. So now let's talk more about this word uplift. It doesn't mean vain imaginations. It doesn't mean gratified pride. It doesn't mean affirming vain imaginations or gratifying pride. One reason that these substitutions have slipped in is because Christian churches in general today are comprised of people who desire to be affirmed rather than improved. You can't be both. You have to pick one. The question is, what's more important to you? growing towards God or staying how you are. Because if you want if the most important thing to you is to feel good about how you are right now. You want your pride gratified. You want your vain imaginations affirmed. You're choosing that over becoming more like God. You can't have both. To become more like God, you have to let go of something that about you. Uplift means to raise a loft, to raise, to elevate. It's not about feeling good right now. It's about becoming better right now. If you feel good right now, you won't become better later. It It's probably better to say, if you feel better right now, you won't become better later. Again, it's one or the other. If someone comes and just soothes you in your problems, you're never going to fix your problems. You won't have any reason to. And the reason that you probably have a problem in the first place is because you haven't suffered enough to face it yet. You lack sufficient motivation to face it or to to exert the effort required to find a solution. The best way to feel better long term is to become better right now. And so if you want to uplift someone, you need to give them something better than what they already have. There are a bunch of different ways you could do this. You could show them that something that they already have is worse than they thought. You could show them that something that they don't have is better than they thought. You could show them something different about how they imagine they might obtain what they want but don't have. And the odds are very high on all of these things or any other option that they will be offended if they care more about their present feelings than their future circumstance. And that is unavoidable. Now, it's very frequently the case that in order to lift someone up, you have to show them more of their faults. Here's a scripture that you might think um contradicts this point. Hebrews 12:12. It says, "Wherefore, lift up the hands which hang down in the feeble knees." Well, Rob, this says the opposite of what you're saying. No, read the verse before and the verse after. Now no chastening for the present seemth to be joyous but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way, but let it rather be healed. If you don't face your problems, you can't fix them. surprise. Now, it turns out, and I wish we could spend a lot more time on this, but there's a whole basket of words in Hebrew and Greek that you could translate into the English word lift, and they're connected to the idea of removing something. Now, this probably shouldn't be a surprise because if you are going to rise, you have to be lifted from something old to something new and something higher. And figuratively speaking, that means better. In Genesis 7:17, one of these words in Hebrew to lift up is used in describing how the ark was lifted up above the earth. it was on the earth and then the water came and it was lifted up. So, no one would find that offensive, right? But for some reason in our modern conception of what it means to be uplifted, we imagine that we can stand exactly where we started and be uplifted at the same time. That's obviously impossible. It's only possible through affirming vain imaginations and through gratifying pride. Otherwise, there has to be a separation. Now, this idea of separation is interesting because one of these words, Strong's Hebrew 5927, it could be translated as lift. It means to go up, to ascend, to climb, but it also means to offer as in a sacrifice. And it describes the separation of the smoke that goes up from the burnt offering which is consumed. There's a part that goes up and a part that stays and is destroyed. There's even a phase shift in the in the in the matter. It's solid and it turns into a gas with the with the flame, the smoke going up. There's a word, this is uh Strong's Greek 32:22 that could be translated for lift and it means to lift up, but it also means to show what was previously hidden. That's really interesting because a lot of times if you want to really uplift someone, you have to show them something different than what they currently think, something they don't see yet or don't see correctly. There's one here. This is Strong's Greek 142 that means to lift but also to take up and to to remove and to carry away. So for example, uh this is the word used in Matthew 16:24. It says, "Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." So would you consider it to be uplifting if someone put a cross on you and made you follow someone else? And yet that's the way the Lord used the word. There's another interesting one. This is Strong's Hebrew 1802 that means to lift up but also to draw out like you would draw water out of a well with a bucket. In Proverbs 20:5, this one's used. Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water, but a man of understanding will draw it out. Would you consider it uplifting if someone helped you see some of your hidden motives which maybe weren't so great? Well, the Lord would. There are other words and and we can't go through them all, but one of them means to lift up, to remove, to take away. Another means to take away, to remove, to lift up, to destroy. Another is to draw up, to pull up, to uproot. That that certainly wouldn't feel very uplifting, would it? And yet, that's the word. So, if you really want to be lifted up, you need to be open to experiences that you might otherwise find pretty dang offensive. Who does the Lord lift up? Well, in Psalm 145:14, it says, "The Lord upholdeth all that fall and raiseth up all those that be bowed down." And what's interesting about this word bowed, it could be bowed like from age or weight or bowed. Those who bow down to another. If you look up this Hebrew word, it means both. The Lord upholds those who fall and raises those that bow down to him. It's not such a weird idea because that's exactly what it says in Matthew 23:12. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased, and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. The best way to be uplifted by the Lord is to submit to him, which is the opposite of getting offended at the truth. The Lord lifteth up the meek. He casteth the wicked down to the ground. Psalm 1476. So I guess this is another uplifting presentation, right?