Be An Encourager

Be An Encourager

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
Hebrews 3:13

The scripture above reminds me that most people generally do a poor job in uplifting and encouraging the people they come into contact with. I would like for you to take a few moments right now and think about what has happened to you today, and the encouragement that you have received from others, but most of all think about the encouragement that you have given to others. Also think about that when you attempted to give encouragement to others, did they really know what you meant and accepted it as encouragement. I can recall being asked at one of my hospitals to teach a course to the new nursing students, as their teacher had gotten sick and I was substituting for them. I began by explaining the meaning of a substitute and used the example that if you break a window, and then place a piece of plywood over the hole—that’s a substitute. After the class, a well-intentioned student wished to compliment me for the job I had done and said “you were no substitute, you were a real pane.” Have you ever gotten a compliment like that, where you went away scratching your head wondering how to take it? It’s easy to assume the worst and most of the time we do just that, if there is any doubt as to what people meant to say. We live in a world where people are more often inclined to put you down, rather than to lift you up, where they would rather ridicule you than encourage you. I would like to encourage you today to make it a point to say something encouraging to someone, and do it in such a way that there will be no doubt as to your intention.