Love Is…Encouraging

it [love]  does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. -1 Corinthians 13:6 (ESV)

I think it’s kind of neat that I get to this one today. In our family we have a weekly memory verse. This weeks is 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (ESV), Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. So we were talking about being an encouragement this mourning. You may wonder why I am talking about encouragement since the verse covered in this post says nothing about encouragement. But I think that 1 Corinthians 13:6 has everything to do with encouragement. How encouraging is it when someone rejoices at wrongdoing, yours or someone elses toward you? It is one of the most dishearening things to hear someone laugh at you when you mess up. However, when you do something right and someone rejoices with you, that lifts your spirits. Encouragement is huge. Often all it takes is a smile, a kind word, just a friendly action. So often something so simple as a smile can turn into something a huge encouragement.

Encouragemnt was very important to the early church.The believers were constantly encourging each other and helping each other through difficult times.

After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” -Acts 13:15 (ESV)

And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. -Acts 15:31 (ESV)

And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. -Acts 15:32 (ESV)

So they went out of the prison and visited Lydia. And when they had seen the brothers, they encouraged them and departed. -Acts 16:40 (ESV)

And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, -Acts 18:27 (ESV)

When he had gone through those regions and had given them much encouragement, he came to Greece. -Acts 20:2 (ESV)

This is an example we to should follow. We should strive to be an encouragement. It is really easy too. Let me share something with you. A few weeks ago I was at Key Club when one of the moms came up to me. She told me that a week or so before that I had encouraged her. Her daughter was just starting the Ballroom Dance Class I go to. I was sitting in the lobby waiting for class to start. All I was doing was talking to some of the other dancers. This simple act was an encouragement to the mom though. She said it was because she got to watch a young person who was so happy just to be there. This encounter surprised me a little bit. (Even more so since I was actually talking to some people I don’t know as well, something I don’t do easily.) I never realized just having a conversation could be such an encouragement. Especially to someone who was only observing the conversation! Here’s something else. It encouraged ME to know that I had been an encouragement to someone else.