Empty encouragement
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing”
1 Thessalonians 5:9
Encouragement is a vital part of Christian life. Christians are commanded to encourage one another, and so reasonably expect to be encouraged themselves. Without support a Christian quickly looses focus, motivation, vision, and even hope. Why then is encouragement often found so lacking? It could be mere forgetfulness. Not action, or lack thereof, due to spite, but an honest slip of the mind–there is no doubt encouragement is often neglected for this reason. However, there may be a more pervasive reason, a sort of disintegration of encouragement. And that disintegration may very well be due to a lack of clarity and depth. Let me explain.
There are two building blocks that all useful communication are built upon. The first is that the speaker has a real, objective meaning behind the words he uses. The second is that the listener has a similar understanding of that same real, objective meaning. Without both working simultaneously communication is sure to fail. For example, say you were trying to explain to someone how overwhelmed you were with an oratorio. You could go on and on about the perfect balance and timing of the whole thing; but if the listener does not know what an oratorio is he would certainly be lost. Your whole conversation would likely be useless unless you first began by making sure everyone started on level ground.
Now this may seem to have no bearing on encouragement, but, after all, encouragement is communication. If I desire to encourage my brother or sister in Christ my words must have substance, and that substance must either be communicated or previously understood. My fear is that in a shortage of understanding Christianity has opted for less weighty cliches, such as ‘God has his hand on you.’ Now there is nothing wrong with the phrase itself–it is proper at least as far as grammar is concerned. But what does it mean? Someone might rightly ask, ‘God is spirit, how can he have hands, more less a hand on me?’ You may think I’m being nit-picky, but my intention is clarity. Take the command to encourage in 1 Thessalonians 5:11. It comes after ten verses of exposition on salvation and the return of Christ. When Paul says to encourage one another he means, ‘keep reminding each other of these particular truths.’ Without the truth, there is no encouragement. And that leads us to my point. The proper tool for encouragement is truth. When you speak encouragement you must have in mind a particular truth of Christianity. And you must also be certain that your listener understands that truth. If there is a failure on either side you will not encourage–you will pass the time with empty speech. There is a reason why the greatest scriptural encouragements come after deep teaching (consider how Romans 8, the encouragement chapter, comes after seven chapters of doctrine). Know the great truths of Christianity, and let us be encouraged by reminding one another of their source and assurity.
