Chapter Thirteen - Celebrating
Celebrating
„My fruit grows on other people’s trees”
- Bob Buford
One of the greatest gifts we can give people is the gift of encouragement.
Encouragement is a power. It is a power that overcomes our desire to give up. With encouragement, we can finish high school, work grinding twelve-hour days, stay with people we love in difficult times, and achieve great feats like climbing mountains. Encouragement does so much for us, yet it’s often hard to come by.
The reality is that if encouragement were our main source of nourishment, then many of us would be starving right now. Why is that? Because encouragement, praise, thanks, and recognition are the main sources of nourishment for human souls. Without them, we shrivel up inside and become bitter, nagging, and unpleasant for those around us.
“Encourage one another” is what we read in Hebrews 3:13. “If a person´s gift is encouraging, let him encourage” (Ro. 12:8). In the Bible, we don’t find phrases like, “Always look for the worst in others. Back off on praise and recognition. Don’t thank people too much or else they’ll become proud.” Quite the contrary!
The early churches were oases of encouragement.
Barnabas was called the Son of Encouragement (Acts 4:36)
Barnabas encouraged believers in Antioch (Acts 11:23)
Two prophets in the early church, Judas and Silas “said so much to encourage and strengthen the brothers” (Acts 15:32)
After being released from prison in Philippi, Paul and Silas go to the home of Lydia “where they met with the brothers and encouraged them” (Acts 16:40).
When Paul was in Macedonia, Lukas writes, “Paul sent for the disciples and, after encouraging them, said goodbye and set out for Macedonia. He travelled through the area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people” (Act 20:1-2)
On the way to Rome, Paul the prisoner met with believers, where we read: “At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged” (Acts 28:15).
Without question: in the first century, when people wanted to tank up on courage, confidence, and strength, they found that they could do so in the fellowship of believers. What happened in the first century can be a lifeline in our churches today.
Every day, we have many conversations in which things are said to us, or we say things to others. Is what we say to others life-giving or gift-activating? One thing we can do is to monitor the content of our conversations with others. We can use what I call an encouragement meter.
When we see good things in people often, our default mechanism is to say nothing. It’s like a well-known German saying: “Not to criticise is praise enough.” Good work is expected in German society, no need to call attention to it when it happens. This is not the Jesus way.
Fig. 16 Encouragement Meter
As we become more mindful of what we say to people, we will consciously choose to live them up with words of affirmation and grace.
As a young seminary student, I was eager to learn from the best professors the evangelical world had to offer. Taking courses on preaching under the legendary Dr. Lloyd Perry was like sitting at the feet of Jesus. Dr. Perry, diminutive in stature and lamed by polio during his childhood, was erudite, godly, a riveting preacher, and someone who, over the span of forty years, trained some of the best preachers in the world.
My hand would go numb after an hour of furiously taking copious notes. I will never forget the day Dr. Perry stunned me. With tears in his eyes, he said, “I would rather be a king-maker than a king.”
Dr. Perry was not just the king of preachers, but the emperor. He was telling us that building into the lives of other people was more important than personal success. Immediately, my mind went to Jesus' words about Himself in the Gospel of Mark: “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).