Encouragement to Encourage One Another
What are some things you love to receive, but you don’t do so well giving those same things out? It might be praise, congratulating someone on a job well done. This can especially be hard if we or one of our kids lost a competition, but the winner played really well and deserved a compliment. Maybe it’s being thoughtful and getting a friend or loved one a gift just because. We all appreciate being praised and we definitely enjoy receiving surprise gifts.
Did encouragement come to mind? We like being on the receiving end of encouragement. But how well do you do at encouraging others? Encouragement comes in many shapes and sizes, not the least of which is simply showing someone you care for them. Encouragement also includes drawing someone’s focus back to the truth, crying with them in their loss, praying with them, and rejoicing with them over their blessings.
Consider Barnabas from the book of Acts. We first meet him at the end of chapter four where Luke gives us the meaning of his name—son of encouragement. We find that Barnabas encouraged many saints in Jerusalem by selling a field and donating the money to be used for the needs of the rapidly growing group of Christ-followers. We also know that Barnabas encouraged the disciples living in Jerusalem when Paul was just starting out in his gospel ministry (Acts 9:26-27). Just like Ananias earlier in the chapter, the disciples also needed reassurance that Paul wasn’t going to haul them off to prison or kill them.
Ask yourself this question: Should I be an encourager like Barnabas? You don’t have to be in full-time ministry to encourage others. Neither must you possess the Spirit-given gift of exhortation (means encouragement or comfort; see Rom. 12:6-8), to encourage others.
What follows are three encouragements from Scripture to encourage all of us as members of Hampton Park Baptist Church to be encouragers.
- All believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 1:22), who is the master Helper/Comforter (John 14:16-17; 16:7).
All believers are enabled to encourage others with the encouragement they receive.
- We find the simple command to “encourage one another” twice in Scripture (1 Thess. 4:18; 5:11).
The content of the encouragement, in this context, is building one another up in the realities of salvation in Christ and the future resurrection of all the saints.
- Encouraging others includes exhortation which is a loving plea to a brother or sister to put away a specific sin and to replace it with righteous obedience to God (Heb. 3:13; 10:24-25).
We don’t encourage one another to remain in sin or to continue bad habits. Encouragement lovingly steers a brother or sister back into the light.
And below are a few practical tips for encouraging one another.
- When you learn of a need (health issues, financial difficulties, a death in the family, a crisis of faith), reach out with an encouraging word and/or pray with them.
- When you learn of a particular blessing (birth of a child or grandchild, a graduation, a marriage, a job promotion, an answer to prayer, any blessing worth celebrating), reach out with an encouraging word and/or pray with them.
- Encouraging ways to reach out: converse with a church member before or after a service, invite them to your home for coffee or a meal, meet up somewhere in town for coffee or lunch, text, call, email, or write them a letter.
- Follow up with the church member a few days or weeks after your initial encouragement to check up on them and figure out how to better pray for them. Doing this encourages them a second time and it might be that the follow up means more to the individual than the original contact.
May God grow our love and care for one another as we strive to encourage, comfort, and exhort one another regularly.