Need Encouragement? By Lee Shelnutt
To answer a question with a question, who doesn’t these days? In ways few of us would have imagined a few years ago, everything has gotten hard. Work is hard. Neighboring is hard. School is hard. Friendships are hard. Knowing what to think about the topic du jour is hard. Navigating a pandemic is hard. Church life is hard. Life is hard. Well, harder than most of us had experienced. We swim in a world of tensions, shouting heads, tribalism, and then throw in good measures of uncertainty and no wonder things are hard.
People are weary. Tired. Frustrated. Discouraged.
As a pastor, over the past few months, I’ve lost count of the articles I have seen about pastoral burnout and men saying, “I didn’t sign-up for this!” Yet, it’s not just pastors is it my friends? It’s teachers, policemen, health-care workers, small-business owners, and virtually everyone else. With everything Covid and politics thrown on top of the normal thorns and thistles of life, it is so easy to understand how so many are weary, have shorter fuses, face deeper bouts of depression, and have greater fears and uncertainties about tomorrow.
People are weary. Tired. Frustrated. Discouraged.
They need? Encouragement. You need encouragement. I do. We all do, don’t we?
Of course, we are not the first to need encouragement. When seeking to prepare the Thessalonians for the coming Day of the Lord, Paul wrote in chapter 5,
6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
In tumultuous times, encouragement – intentional, persistent, thoughtful, edifying – encouragement is the order of the day.
Sometimes that encouragement will be the encouragement of presence. Showing up. Being there for someone. When they were not lecturing him without understanding and instead were just there, Job’s friends were a help. Sometimes the best encouragement is being with a discouraged brother or sister without a scripted lecture to give. Maybe it will be the person who needs you to sit by their bedside. Maybe it will be the bible study leader who has been diligently preparing to teach the next study. Maybe it will be the student struggling with homework and you are sitting close by, cup of coffee and your own book in hand, conveying to her the simple truth that she is not alone.
Sometimes that encouragement will be the encouragement of words of gratitude. Whether spoken or contained in a note, you never know when your words of appreciation will be the very God-directed balm that a weary soul needs. Think of the examples of the biblical writers like Paul:
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1)
Think of the times in your life when someone took the time to truly thank you. They noticed what you had done. They were grateful for it, and they took the time to tell you. What sweet encouragement simple words like these are: I am grateful for what God did through you in my life.
Sometimes that encouragement will be calls to perseverance. Someone’s strength is waning, their wherewithal slipping, the holy task before them seems to grow larger and larger, and they feel smaller and smaller. Yet, you come along and say, my friend, God can do this through you! He is with you, and I am as well. My suspicion is that you can think of someone right now who needs to hear words like that from your lips.
Who needs encouragement? We all do. The one you seek to encourage and you!
About 12 years ago, I went to then Executive Director of World Witness, Frank Van Dalen, and asked, “In a volunteer capacity, is there anything I can do to help you and World Witness?” Frank answered, “Yes! Mentor a young and promising Pakistani pastor. Guide him as he works on a theological degree from Erskine. He will make a great spiritual leader for the Church in Pakistan.” Frank continued, “and I’ve got a great name for such a ministry, let’s call it ‘The Barnabas Ministry.’”
Over the years since, I have sought to be a “son of encouragement” (Acts 4:36) to another son of God, Rev. Zeeshan Sadiq. I have sought to encourage him and his ministry but what stands out now to me is not so much the encouragement I sought to give (as inadequate as it no doubt has been), but the encouragement I received back in the process. It has proved to be another one of those counter intuitive ways of Christ. When I sought to encourage, I was encouraged back.
These words of Jesus always ought to echo in our minds:
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.25 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matt. 26)
Need encouragement? I know you do. Then intentionally, persistently, sincerely, and humbly encourage others.
Our therapeutic culture has much to say about self-care and taking care of “you.” And while there may be some common grace enabled insights here or there, Jesus, exemplified and calls us to be other-directed.
…whoever would be great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10)
Does He call us to such an other-focus and to live life as servants because he hates us and wants us to be wasted away and crushed in spirit – and when we are already so weary and tired and down?? Or is it because He loves us and knows that the way to be encouraged is so often through giving encouragement? Need encouragement? Give it.