Encouraging
My wife, Jean, very clearly has the spiritual gift of encouragement – I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t be encouraging towards others. Being encouraging is something that I have tried to foster over the years, although I am somewhat hampered in this in that I am scrupulously honest, which means that I am unwilling to say anything that I don’t really believe to be true. An even greater hindrance has been my upbringing within an emotionally repressed family. However, the time came when I felt God telling me that he wanted me to be more open about my feelings.
Say it!
I recall an occasion in the office at work many years ago when I noticed one of the women looking particularly nice – maybe because of what she was wearing – and having had that thought, I made a remark to that effect. Someone else teased me for doing so, implying that I was making a pass, which everyone present appreciated wasn’t the case. I merely made a deliberate decision to verbalise what had gone through my mind. Today, I am much more relaxed about expressing compliments where appropriate. We can all have similar thoughts, but keep them to ourselves. The sad thing is that such encouragement can have a significant impact upon the recipient, and if we keep silent, then we deny them this. It is important for a woman to be told that she is looking great, and it does no harm to express similar appreciation to a man on occasion. We all need to be encouraged and valued. The bottom line is that if you think positively about something, and the situation is appropriate, then don’t keep it to yourself, say it!
Valuing others
It is encouraging to be told that we look good, but that, of course, is relatively superficial – there are far more important things in life that we all need encouragement in; that we want to have recognised about ourselves. A particularly helpful, meaningful or spiritually powerful sermon warrants recognition of the speaker – preachers need encouragement. Everyone needs to feel that they are making a meaningful contribution, one that is recognised and appreciated by others. Sadly, many of us are unresponsive. How many make a conscious effort to encourage the speaker during a church service? I am not advocating anything verbal here, but simply showing, by eye contact, that we are paying attention to what they are saying, and maybe smiling or nodding when something is said that we strongly agree with. It doesn’t matter what the media is; we all need to know when we are hitting the mark, when our ministry is being effective. How else will we know when this is not the case if those on the receiving end are always unresponsive? I haven’t chosen this topic to garner ‘likes’ against my Facebook notifications, but if you appreciate my blog, then why not indicate this, and maybe let others know that The Asked Questions BLOG is worth reading?
Making someone’s day
We aren’t all expressive people, but maybe God would have us be more so than we are now. It costs little to encourage others, but it will mean a lot to them. You never know, it might just make their day! I mentioned Jean’s ministry of encouragement earlier. In her case, this is a distinct Holy Spirit gifting that often has a powerful effect – I tease her about having the ministry of making people cry. I think this happens because Jean tells people things that they desperately need to hear, and their emotional reaction suggests how important her words are to them. Jean doesn’t just pass on a compliment or share a few words, but explains why she is doing so. One time, she spoke to the speaker after a service to tell him how much she appreciated his ministry, only to get an astonished reaction as if nobody had ever done that before – he was so grateful for her encouragement and thanked her profusely.
Doing God’s work
We can all pass on a simple encouragement, akin to a ‘like’ on Facebook, but by adding detail about why we have done so, we make our expression of appreciation so much more potent. Many of us grow a crust of protection when we have to press on through an encouragement drought, but it is so refreshing when the rain comes, albeit a gentle shower. Let’s release our emotional taps, even just a little, and allow ourselves to reach out to others in encouragement, letting them know something of how we feel and why. This will bless them, and I think there is a reward in it for us as well. Not to mention that we will be doing God’s work. Paul wrote: “Therefore, encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” 1 Thessalonians 5:11. See also Hebrews 3:13; Ephesians 4:29