So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already
doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11(NLT)
Encouragement is sometimes in short supply.
I once saw a Peanuts
comic strip that had Lucy van Pelt reading Charlie Brown the classic riot act
after the final loss in a very long season of nothing but losses. “This is the worst team that has ever existed,
Charlie Brown; we never win, and you are the most horrible manager a team could
have!”
With that Lucy turns and storms off. In the last panel Charlie Brown calls after
her, “That’s not very encouraging!”
The
late Bishop Paul Martin tells of the time when he "received a new church
appointment early in his ministry. The
congregation planned a reception for him on his first Sunday. During the reception, everyone came around to
greet him except for one man who lingered in the rear of the room. After everyone else had greeted him, this man
came forward and simply stood there.
The
future bishop asked him, 'What do you do here?'
The layman said, 'I look for the preacher's weaknesses.' And he added, 'I'm good at it! But when I find them, that's where I get
beneath him, and then I lift him up."[3]
This defines for me the
command of Apostle Paul to encourage; it is the sense of lifting each other.
Encouraging
Strengthens People for Tough Times
People need lifting in tough
times – times like we face today. Our
text contains one of the each others of the
Bible.
Paul had said to love
each other, help each other, be kind to each other, not
to judge each other; here he says to strengthen or build-up
each other with encouragement.
Paul’s friends at Thessalonica
had tough times. They had questions
about their departed loved ones, and how God was going to bring them back for
the gathering of the saints at His second coming. Paul told them not to worry, they were
believers, children of light, and God would remember them.
He also cautioned them to
put on their combat gear – faith, love and hope – and stay awake like
responsible soldiers. He then told them
that their faith will be strengthened as they remind each other of the fact that
God hadn’t saved them to abandon them; they were his!
Tough times call for that
kind of fellowship – bright spots in the long, gray road.
Patsy
Clairmont tells of “riding my bike down a street when I turned a corner. An endless, gray pavement that stretched out
to meet the drab curb and dingy sidewalk greeted me. Running alongside the walk was a dusty patch
of earth that piled up against a beige wall.
Then, into this colorless picture an absurd addition intruded
itself. Atop the wall and spilling down
its side was a vibrant swath of fuchsia flowers.
Suddenly the boring
became breathtaking. The dismal became
dynamic. The mundane became
magnificent.
Like a cup of cool water
in a desert, a sudden breeze on a stifling night, a rainbow as the storm clouds
part, the unexpected appearance of something grand caused my heart to skip a
beat.
Isn’t life often like
that? Think about it. You’re experiencing one of those days when
you’re tired of yourself, and then someone steps into your landscape and plants
words of encouragement. The person
values you, and you begin to bloom. Or
your work has become a drag, and you think if you have to file one more useless
paper, change one more messy diaper, or listen to one more grumbling client,
you’re going to scream. Then you receive
a promotion, the baby asks to go potty, and the client becomes your husband.
God tends to use blah
settings to display marvels. We mustn’t
give up when we experience a succession of gray days and beige encounters. Some stunning surprise awaits us around the
next bend.”[5]
Encouragers Always
Get Encouraged
Paul had spent the better
part of his life encouraging and building-up others. The final couple of years he spent in jail…a
dark, foul place with no company. Talk
about needing encouragement!
This points us to the
reality that we will eventually find ourselves on both sides of any
equation. If you’re an encourager, there
will come a time (like Paul) when you need encouragement; you’ll need it like
you need the next breath.
And if you’re constantly in
need of encouragement, don’t lose sight of the fact that you can also bring
encouraging words or even just your presence to others.
Mr. Redden was a part of the
church of my childhood; he’s now with the Lord.
One time he was a chaperone for our youth group. He was very much on the edge of a great
spiritual defeat. I was only about 12 or
13, but Mr. Redden found himself sharing his tough time with me. I don’t remember a thing he said, or what I
told him, but I do remember how he looked at me and thanked me for
listening.
Some months later he tapped
me on the shoulder at church and gave me a wink. Without words he told me the victory was
his. That bit of counseling has
encouraged me over the years like little else.
A grown-up taking a teenager seriously, respectfully…WOW! That was like manna to my soul.
A Freshman English comp
professor kept a copy of an essay I turned in; she said it was just in case I
became famous for my writings! I cannot
tell you how much that meant to someone who didn’t think his words were worth
hearing!
Barnabas was Paul’s friend,
and his name actually means son of encouragement. People were often named in that time
according to their most outstanding characteristic. Barnabas was the encourager, and even his
name said so!
Friends, there are always
going to be “gray days” in need of fuchsia flowers. God has provided Barnabas for just such
days.
What would be our
name…collectively and individually…if we asked the community to name us?
Whatever it would be right
now, wouldn’t it be wonderful if our community started calling us
Barnabas?
They’d say I know where to
find those encouraging, helpful people – they’re down there at that church in
Bennett or Seagrove.
The grace we find at this
table has the power to change us; He said so!
In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Zan W. Holmes, Encountering Jesus (Nashville: Abingdon
Press, 1992), 54-55.
Patsy Clairmont, The Women of Faith Daily Devotional
(Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002), 127.
