Encouragement
Words that build up the weary.
To encourage is to put courage back into someone — to lift the head that has dropped. "Exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do" (1 Thessalonians 5:11, WEB). The Christian life is not solitary, and neither is endurance.
Barnabas, son of encouragement
Acts 4:36 names Joseph "Barnabas," which means son of encouragement. He sold a field for the church, vouched for Paul when no one trusted him (Acts 9:27), and went looking for Mark after Mark had failed (Acts 15:37-39). Encouragement is not flattery — it is faithful belief in what God is still doing in someone.
Words fitly spoken
"Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a word spoken in right circumstances" (Proverbs 25:11). A short, specific, truthful word at the right moment can carry a person for weeks.
Receiving encouragement
Some Christians give encouragement freely and refuse it for themselves. Receiving is also obedience. Let a brother or sister's words land — God often speaks His kindness through human voices.
Scripture to sit with
- "Exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today.”"— HEBREWS 3:13 (WEB)
- "Exhort one another, and build each other up."— 1 THESSALONIANS 5:11 (WEB)
- "Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a kind word makes it glad."— PROVERBS 12:25 (WEB)
A small practice
Send one short, specific message today to someone who is tired. Not a quote — a sentence that names what you actually see God doing in them.
A prayer
Father, make me quick to notice what is true and good in others, and slower to keep it to myself. Amen.