We all need encouragement. Life is hard, even when things are generally going well in our lives. Ever since the Fall in the Garden, we live in a sin-cursed, broken world. But, we’ve been designed by our Creator to live in community, and we are commanded by Him in His Word to encourage one another.
Paul tells the Corinthians church in 2 Corinthians 13:11 “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.” Likewise, the author of Hebrews writes “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13
Why did God command believers to encourage one another? Because He is an encourager “You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,” Psalm 10:17, and we are supposed to imitate Him and reflect His image. Second reason: He knew that we would need it!
Encouragement can inspire, give hope, hearten or cheer. It can alleviate grief or loss; it can comfort and strengthen. It can also, at times, involve instructing, teaching, admonishing, or exhorting (giving warning or advice, or urging strongly), as Paul says in his letter to the church in Thessalonica:
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11-14
God has always given His people encouragers. At the Lord’s instruction, Moses was not only to commission Joshua to lead the people into the Promised Land, but also to “encourage and strengthen him for the task.” Deuteronomy 3:28. Titus was sent to the Corinthian church for it’s comfort. “But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus,” 2 Corinthians 7:6; and Paul sent Timothy to the church in Thessalonica to encourage the people in trying times. “We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,” 1 Thessalonians 3:2. These are only a few examples!
One word of caution. As believers in Christ, we are to be encouragers of one another. But, that encouragement, admonishment, and teaching is always to be done with sound doctrine, wisdom, and truth. As always, there is a lot of heretical, unbiblical, “spiritual sounding,” humanistic garbage posing as truth, especially on the web. Some of it is so incredibly misleading, you could actually be hurting someone, instead of helping. If the quote on your meme sounds like God is a cheerleader telling you “I’ve got this, girl! And things are going to turn around for you later this year! Your blessing is on it’s way!”, then I suggest you don’t share it. These are claims of “someone” but it’s not God. Blindly telling someone their suffering or trial is going to come to an end is giving someone false hope, not encouragement. Only God knows what He is doing with that person and how long the suffering is going to last.
In the same manner, if you’re sharing a list of things “God wants us to know”, use caution. Even though the list may sound encouraging, nice, or helpful, those things may not be what God has to say to us at all. If it can’t be backed up with scripture that’s used in the correct context, it isn’t Biblical. If this is the gist of the websites you’re posting from routinely, unfollow them.
What should we do instead? How do we truly encourage one another? Here are some practical ways we CAN: 1) Be approachable. Make people feel welcome to come and talk with you. 2) Make time for people. Make time to sit with them, cry with them, listen to them. 3) Give them verbal encouragement. Tell them specific things. For example, tell them ways you’ve seen spiritual grown in their lives, how you’ve noticed they’ve treated other people well, etc. 4) Remind them of God’s love and faithfulness, using examples from the Bible. 5) Remind them of the ever-present hope we have in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
These are just a few examples. I’m sure we can all come up with more. In fact, we’d love to hear how you’ve been encouraged by others in the comments! Our encouragement to you for the week ahead comes from 1 Peter 5:10:
“And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.” To that we say Amen, and Amen!
