The Power of Encouragement

  Encourage one another daily as long as it is called today so that none of you are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness~ Hebrews 3:13

In this passage the writer of Hebrews is connecting the danger of sin to the garden-variety disappointments and struggles that are common to the human experience. The writer, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, tells us that one solution to being taken captive by “sin’s deceitfulness” is the encouragement of a community of fellow believers.

  This passage caught my attention partly because I have found myself to be a casualty of discouragement recently. We have had a lot of upheaval in the Price household recently.

We moved from Washington state to Arizona and the move has has brought big changes. Some of the changes are to be expected with a big move, including periods of loneliness, the trauma of getting our daughter settled in a new school and the ups and downs of learning a new city.  Some of the changes have been unique to THIS move. Transplanting a Northwest girl to the heart of the Sonoran desert has been interesting to say the least…

My adventures have included 112-degree days that have resulted in wicked sunburns and giant electric bills, the discovery that shoes are for more than making your feet look cute (don’t ask, it’s sad) … Last but not least… Getting acquainted with the local wildlife, including butterflies so big they actually scare me a little (don’t laugh, it happens!), and giant pig rats called javelinas eating our trash (these things are real, if you don’t believe me Google them). I have also dealt with scorpions in my shower, snakes in the pool, a tarantula who appears to be convinced that our back yard is his own personal resort, and a giant skink (lizard) who really likes hanging out on our front porch.

I recognize that my problems are first-world problems; I have a home with a pool for snakes to fall into and a back yard that is pleasant enough to attract local wildlife. I have a front porch for the lizard to hang out on. These things are blessings and I would be foolish to forget that.

The issues I struggle with are small and inconsequential compared to the plight of the unemployed or the struggles of single mothers in third-world countries.  But there have been moments when the loneliness of moving and the loss of friends coupled with the strangeness of the new environment have created an atmosphere where discouragement has become an issue. It is easy to see how someone who felt alone in their struggles could easily slip into the trap of believing that life will never get better and that God doesn’t see our pain or care about our struggles.

That is where discouragement leads to the deceitfulness of sin, and the eventual hardening of our hearts. When we begin to believe the lie that God is unaware of or indifferent to our suffering we can easily begin to buy into the falsehood that we are entitled to get pleasure and comfort from activities, things, and substances instead of God. Things, activities and substances may offer temporary pleasure and comfort but eventually lead to bondage and the “hardening of our hearts”.

The writer of Hebrews tells us that one key to preventing our hearts being hardened is for those of us in the community of faith to “encourage one another”. The word encourage in the Greek is parakaleo.

For such an important concept it’s really a rather unexciting word in the Greek (I was expecting something really spectacular). It simply means, “to call to one’s side”.  The idea put forth with this word is that we see someone who is struggling and we call or pull them up to the place where we are. We speak the strength and inner courage that we possess into their spirits giving them some of our strength. Practically speaking this can be a small thing like simply listening to a friend as she shares her struggles and fears. Encouragement can also be a big thing like providing childcare and hot meal for a struggling family.

Encouragement always involves community (fellow believers) and almost always involves the use of words. Proverbs 18:21 tells us that the tongue holds the power of life and death.  I know from personal experience that a phone call just to let someone know you care can literally speak life and hope into the lonely or the discouraged.

We have been in Arizona for several months now and I am truly grateful for this experience. As weird and challenging as it’s been I feel that I will be a better person and a better encourager because of it. My prayer for you is that you will pray for new and unique ways to obey the command to “encourage one another” within your own community of faith.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you~ Luke 6:38