Three suggestions regarding encouraging others

A few days ago, I read an inspirational post by Terry Rush entitled “I Live a Surreal Life.” In this piece he describes a few high points of what he calls his “weirdly wonderful” life. God truly has set some amazing opportunities before him. Click here, if you want to read more about Terry’s surreal life.

Near the end Rush writes, “God lets me live in a world which touches an incredibly wide range of personalities and there is no explanation or justification except to say He lets me.” How wonderful it is that He gives God both the credit and the glory for these experiences.

Rush concludes this post with the following observation:

But another factor must be noted. I wonder how many men and women have passed through life and had the imagination to try but those around them cooled those dreams with doubting and discouraging words.

What a piercing point! I’m glad for Terry. But it really makes me wonder how many people have had the spark of their imagination extinguished by the doubts and discouragement of others. The number is probably staggering! There is little wonder the Apostle Paul exhorted the believers at Thessalonica to “…encourage each other and build each other up…” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

This also causes me to look more closely at my life. Am I the encourager God wants me to be? Have I been raining on other people’s parades? At the very least, it seems like we all need to be thinking about what we can do to encourage one another. How do we go about building each other up in the Lord? Here are three suggestions that I believe will help us in our efforts to encourager others:

1. Decide to be an encourager. We must look for the good that can be commended in the lives and longings of others. Most people already have enough fault-finders in their lives. What they need is a few good-finders. I’m pretty sure most folks already have enough pragmatists pointing out the pitfalls in their proposals. Far too many of us are quick to discern what won’t work and why. What we all need is to be surrounded by people who see opportunities in problems, rather than problems in every opportunity. I encourage you to decide right now to do your best to find something encouraging to say to everyone you meet.

2. Always keep God’s will in mind. I thought about placing this first to emphasize its importance. I also considered making it the last point, so it would be remembered. After thinking about it, I decided it should be the second of three points, so that it would be right in the middle of everything. Indeed, the will of God should be at the center of everything. God has made encouraging one another a priority for each of us. This is not just about meeting the needs of others. It’s about our faithfulness to a God-given responsibility. We need to follow God’s will for our lives; therefore, we must encourage others. Still, it is true that many become disheartened and need encouragement. Others lose sight of the will of God for their lives and need to be encouraged to get back on track. Still others become overwhelmed by cares of this world and need encouragement. What others need most at times like these is for friends to lovingly point them Godward.  In my estimation, that’s priority-one when it comes to encouraging others.

3. Find positive ways to give advice. Being an encourager does not mean that we never challenge or comment on what others do or say. We do have additional relational responsibilities, such as admonishing one another. To be sure, we must occasionally warn others about dangers we see in the path ahead. At times such as these I believe we are demonstrating the reality of Proverbs 27:17, where we read, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Now, when we think about iron literally sharpening iron we must remember this involves a grinding process by which one piece of iron shapes and sharpens another. There is definitely no pounding taking place in this image. A compassionate analysis of any situation, combined with a gentle word of encouragement concerning the best path forward, is one of the best things we can do to help people to turn their lives around. If I’m going the wrong way that’s what I need. Even if it’s not what I want to hear; it is what I need to hear. But, please, don’t beat me down with what I need to hear.

More could be said on this topic. But, these three suggestions seemed to be a good starting point. May God help us all to be the kind of people who fuel the imagination of others by encouraging their dreams and dispelling their doubts.

© Bill Williams
2009.05.20