The Power of Encouragement

https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/06/you-can-do-it-2

We are all acquinted with the power of encouragement as the teaching is always it is better to encourage than to criticise. So someone didn’t do as well – we say, it’s ok, try again or work harder and do better next time. It is a good principle to follow whether in the world or the church, just that in the former people tend to be more exacting in their pronouncements, less forgiving and more demanding of results. So bosses have less patience to tolerate incompetence and tardiness and will surely scold and rebuke us if we produce less than stellar results or are slow. The reason I guess is that at the work place we are paid to do a job and thus there is a clear expectation of our job scope and responsibilities.

We can adapt the same approach in the church. If someone doesn’t conform, we can scold and reprimand and criticise. However, in matters of faith, there is also the concept of voluntariness as well as pace. Different ones of us are changed differently and most of the work is done by the Holy Spirit on the inside, in the heart which is not outwardly visible immediately. We should let the person change and grow at his or her pace.

The encouragement I like to emphasise this morning is somewhat different. It has more to do with dealing with disappointment and hardship in the walk of faith. Sometimes the going is so tough that instead of the tough gets going, we are tempted to throw everything away and walk. The eternal promises are just so far out and unreachable that the toil of the present living just overwhelms us. It may be too difficult to live out the faith if we are constantly persecuted by friends and family. That is why the body of believers need to step in to encourage those going through such severe difficulties in the faith. Don’t give up. Don’t despair. God is with us. The sufferings will not last forever. Everything we go through now is still worth it and cannot compare to the glory that awaits us in eternity Paul wrote this before in Romans 8:18 and it is true. We must hold on and believe that it can only be true because we are trusting in the one amd only true and living God!

Be the encourager, be the builder of faith. That’s our role as a fellow believer. Don’t give up. God will come through eventually. Even if he doesn’t, we are already assured a place in eternity. In the end, that’s what matters. He is our God and we are His people. Let us all be like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who went into the fiery furnace and believed that God will save them but declared that even if God did not save them, they will still not bow down and worship the golden statue made by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon – see Daniel Chapter 3.