#12 Why Should Christians Need Encouragement?

“Working vacation” and “original copy” are oxymorons:  the words cancel each other out. “Discouraged Christian” should be an oxymoron, but it isn’t. Why?

Before Joshua started his invasion of Canaan, God told him, “Be strong and courageous.” These words were passed on seven times to Joshua, to Moses, to the leaders, and to the people. David repeated the theme in the Psalms, saying, “Be of good courage.” Jesus, after telling his followers they would have lots of trouble in this world encouraged them by saying, “But cheer up, I have overcome the world.” The apostle Paul constantly urges his readers to encourage each other.

Why do you think the encouragement theme is so pervasive throughout the thousands of years of human history as recorded in the Bible? Could it be because we human beings are very often dejected and discouraged, disappointed and depressed, dispirited, downcast, disheartened and in the dark?

But why should Christians need encouragement? It is easy to understand discouragement in selfish people who constantly want more and can’t get it. But discouragement and depression don’t just happen to them, people who live serving God also suffer every form of discouragement. We are not exempt. Why not?

Here we are, children of a loving Father-God. We know He is Love, He is Light, He is just and all-knowing, all-powerful, all-wise, and present everywhere. The more these truths about God soak into our minds, the more we set ourselves to live right, love others, speak kindly, and think pure, uplifting thoughts.

And what is the result? We, His children, the ones He says He loves suffer the same sudden disasters that fall on those who live selfishly without any thought of God. We also experience deep disappointments, car accidents, killer cancers, botched surgeries, and financial failures.

What should be our attitude when these bad things happen to us? Here are a few things to consider:

1) It may be too soon to judge if something that happened is good or bad. We may only be halfway into the story.

2) Even if the story ends badly in this life, God is no one’s debtor. He is just, and will reward suffering in this life with glory in the next.

3) We can turn stressful situations into an opportunity for personal growth.

4) God wants each of us to live bringing glory to Him. Some will do this by being highly successful in public ministry, others by suffering in private under multiple physical and emotional stresses.

5) We are all involved in a spiritual battle and some of us will be wounded.

6) God has given every person on earth the ability to make choices. Every choice, good or bad, has far-reaching consequences which affect other people, even Christians.

7) When we receive comfort and encouragement in hard times, we are better able to sympathize with others and to comfort and encourage them.

8) A well-known poem tells us God answers our prayers, although not always in the way we expect:

I asked for strength and God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom and God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for patience and God placed me in situations where I was forced to wait.
I asked for courage and God gave me dangers to overcome.
I asked for love and God gave me troubled people to help.

We can’t help but get discouraged at times, but we don’t have to stay discouraged. We can be like David after raiders had kidnapped his family and those of his followers and his own friends wanted to kill him. David “encouraged himself in the Lord” and went on to win a great victory with God’s help. (1 Sam. 30:6)

INsights & OUTbursts 11, More Readers, Reading More.

I admit it. I have an ulterior motive for writing this column. I have a personal agenda. Yes, some would even call it a conflict of interest. In the next 500 words, I will try to do everything I can to create more readers. Since I write books, I want many readers. The more people I turn into avid readers, the more books I sell. You can see the conflict.

The two most powerful influences in our lives are the people we associate with and the books we read. Unlike passively watching movies or TV shows, reading books actively involves the whole mind, both emotion and intellect over an extended time. We can’t control who we meet, but we can certainly choose which books we expose our minds to.

Jo and I wanted our daughters to love reading, so we took them on our laps and read picture books to them before they could even talk. As they played on the floor, I would read funny stories to Jo and as we laughed together, our girls would look up and connect reading with fun.

We did the same thing with our grandchildren. One time we sat down with their parents and tape-recorded ourselves reading some fairy tales like, The Three Little Pigs, and Three Billy Goats Gruff, each of us taking different parts. The grandkids loved it! Would you believe that Tyler, now 20 years old and in seminary, told us he still has his tape and enjoyed it recently?

I read to our daughters on Family Nights even after they could read themselves. When they became teenagers we listed the great books we wanted them to read and paid them when they finished a book. I had many good talks with them about the books they read. I told the full story in A Kick in the Pants.  

A father of four teenage sons recently wrote me an email saying, “I read your ‘pay them to read’ story and thought I’d try this with our boys encouraging them to read through the entire Bible.” All of his boys started reading, one sometimes listening to a narrator reading it through his smartphone. His youngest son is on a two-year plan, but one completed the project in three months!

During the months Jo was in recovery from several hip surgeries, she sometimes woke up at night with pain and spasms. She found listening to Scripture on her mp3 player had a calming effect. I have listened to many books on CD while driving, and now listen to books on my mp3 player.

“I used to read about one book a month,” a friend told me as we chatted after church. “But in the past two or three weeks I’ve read seven books”. Whoa! I thought. That is double what I’ve read. And I consider myself an avid reader.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Simple, I bought an ebook reader.”

He then explained that he used to read only business related books, but now loads up his reader with a wide variety of books. He carries his ebook reader in his pocket and pulls it out to read whenever he has a few minutes, switching between genres according to his mood.

More readers, reading more. I love it! Reading more is good for you. . . . and for me. 

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