The Gift of Encouragement

I received a nice Christmas gift just a few hours ago. I was coming to the end of a morning run, when I saw three runners coming from the other directions. They were teenagers from the local high school cross country team, in the midst of their morning workout. I kind of dreaded our passing each other, as they would be striding at youthful competition speed, and I would be plodding by at an old man's sluggish pace. However, as they approached me, they each looked at me and smiled. To a kid, each one of them said, "Good job!" I could have run another two miles on that unexpected fuel!

How simple was that? They could have ignored me or just nodded a greeting and run on by. Instead they made a choice to encourage a stranger. I'll have the same kind of choices before me today. So will you. There will be any number of people and circumstances that will irritate us, create barriers for us, slow us down, or fail to reach the perimeter of our attention or interest. It will be easy to discourage or dismiss. It will take a conscious decision to say or do something that will encourage someone.

Early followers of Jesus took seriously the ministry of encouragement. They believed they had received the ultimate encouragement from God in the one born in the Bethlehem stable. That's a Christmas gift we can all give. Goodness knows there are plenty of people who need it. So what will you do with your encouragement opportunity today?

A Domesticated Faith

One of the knocks against organized, mainline churches in North America has been that we're "boring." I'm learning that there may be better terminology to express the same issue. More specifically, too often we are tame or domesticated. Too often we have taken a gospel that was revolutionary and high risk and turned it into something manageable and safe. First century followers of Jesus were ready to die for their Savior and their mission. Too many twenty-first century Christians just want the same Savior to keep their bankbook solvents and their bodies healthy.

Here's the difference, as Erwin McManus shares it in The Barbarian Way: "The civilized build shelters and invite God to stay with them; barbarians move with God wherever He chooses to go. The civilized Christian has a routine; the barbarian disciple has a mission. The civilized leader knows the letter of the law; the barbarian disciple knows the spirit of the law. The religiously civilized love tradition; the barbarian spirit loves challenges..." (pages 78-79.)

Bold and risky verses tame and predictable. There's a reason that some gatherings of Jesus followers flourish and others drift away. I'll see you around the next bend in the river.