Closely linked to showing appreciation is the need to encourage others. To encourage is to give support, hope, confidence (even courage!) to someone. Encouragement also fortifies people against doubt and worry. In the Bible, we read about a man called Joseph, who was given the name Barnabas because he was so good at encouraging others! (Acts 4:36) Barnabas, the ‘son of encouragement’, was one of the first people to accept Saul as a brother in the faith. (Acts 9:27) He went to Antioch to encourage the Christians there (Acts 11:19-24) and worked with Mark when Paul felt he had blown his chances. (Acts 15:36-40) He must have been a great inspiration to many.
Encouragement doesn’t require any special training, and people who are encouragers often don’t think of that as a calling or ministry. Yet we’re all called to encourage each other and build each other up (1 Thess 5:11) and encouragement is listed as a spiritual gift in Rom 12:8. God is a God of endurance and encouragement (Rom 15:5) and encouragement is one of the ways we can really help others who are struggling and disheartened. (1 Thess 5:14)
When we encourage others, we bring a different perspective to their lives. ‘I can’t do much for God. I’m stuck in my house through illness, unable to go out. What good am I?’ the housebound elderly may say. We can encourage them to persevere in their ministry of prayer, which fuels and undergirds those who may be more visibly active in Christian service and remind them that their wisdom and practical experience in the past helps us in the present. ‘I’m no good at preaching or playing music,’ another may lament, but their help in making teas and coffees and washing up is just as needed as preaching or playing music! ‘I’m not sure what God is doing in my life‘, we cry, but an encourager gives us clarity to see the bigger picture. It’s very hard for us to be objective about ourselves and there is often a tendency to see our negatives more clearly than our positives. When we encourage people, we restore a balanced perspective to their vision and perhaps also help them to discover positives they failed to recognise themselves (because ‘that’s just the way I am’…)
Make it your goal to encourage someone today!
