Philippians 2:25 - Good words?

"But I ruled it necessary Epaphroditus the brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier of me, and your apostle and minister of the need of me, to send to you."

-So since Paul is not coming right away and he’s also not able yet to send Timothy, he’s sending [back] Epaphroditus to the church which had sent him to Paul in the first place.  Apparently the assembly in Philippi had sent Epaphroditus to help Paul.  We’ll read more about this in chapter 4.  But there is something for us here...

-"He’s my brother.  He’s my co-worker.  He’s my fellow soldier, my comrade-in-arms."  High praise from Paul, this.  Paul was this stud apostle/missionary, and here he lavishes this affirmation on Epaphroditus, talking about how he is (has become) a valued member of Paul’s team.  So many times we miss opportunities to affirm others with our words and to make them feel good, or perhaps on occasion we’ll throw out a measly bone of insincere praise.  We all need to get really good at sincerely speaking out good words that build up, that encourage, that bless, words of gratitude, words of praise, words of life - we need to actually employ our tongues and bless others (cf Ephesians 4.29, Hebrews 3.13, Hebrews 10.25, 1 Thessalonians 5.11).  The Church of Jesus Christ should be off the charts on this, and yet we are not...