When my son Christopher began playing soccer I became a part of a special group of women- Soccer Moms. This dedicated group of women spend a lot of time driving to and from practices and games (usually in a minivan or SUV), are experts in energy boosting snacks and are also known for their enthusiasm on the sidelines, sometimes a little too much enthusiasm! At first I would sit among them at the games and do my part in cheering the team and my son on to victory. But over time I started to notice that some of the moms were far too vocal about the job the coach or the referees were doing and they would become quite critical of what they felt were their inadequacies and failures especially concerning their the treatment of their children. If they disagreed with a call they would heckle the ref. If they didn’t like the fact their son or daughter was on the bench they would speak to the coach afterwards. That was not my style and I felt uncomfortable being associated with it. One time I asked Christopher and some of his teammates what they liked to hear coming from the sidelines. “We like to hear stuff like ‘good job!’ and ‘go team!’ they said. They were embarrassed by the catcalls and negative cheering. So I devised a way that enabled me to leave the bleachers without standing out for doing so. I started taking statics for the team: shots on goal, who took them, how many assists and passes each player had and so on. The kids loved it, the moms liked the fact their kids could see their improvement and I was able to encourage the team in a positive way.
If there is any one person in the Bible who is associated with the “ministry of encouragement” that person would be Barnabas. His actual name was Joseph and he was a Levite who originally came from Cyprus. He is one of the early “stars” in the Book of Acts as an active member of the early church and earned the nick-name “Son of Encouragement” (Bahr- son of, nuh-buhs- consolation/encouragement) from the disciples because of his generous and supportive nature (Acts 4:36-37). He welcomed Paul into fellowship when others had reservations about him (Acts 9:26-27), was excited to see God working among Gentile converts in Antioch (Acts 11:19-30), served both as a missionary and relief worker (Acts 13:1-3, 42-43; 14:8-18), took part in the Jerusalem Council on behalf of the Gentile converts (Acts 15:1-34) and took a stand against Paul concerning the status of John Mark (Acts 15:35-41). I’m sure the decision to separate from Paul weighed heavily on his mind when Paul would not change his opinion, but in the end the Gospel spread further because of it. I think Barnabas would have been encouraged by that. (And a satisfying footnote to the story appears in 2 Tim. 4:11.)
The Scriptures consider encouragement to be a trait all Christians should posses. We are admonished to fill our speech with grace (Col. 4:6), encourage and build each other up (1 Thes. 5:11), encourage the faint-hearted (1 Thes. 5:14), and to encourage one another to avoid an unbelieving heart (Heb. 3:12-13). When encouragement is evident in the body of Christ it glorifies God the Father (Rom. 15:1-6; Heb. 10:19-25). The life of Christ encourages us to strive for humility and unity (Phil. 2:1-11) and Paul considered encouragement to be a major component of his ministry (1 Thes. 2:1-12). It saddens me when I’m with a group of Christians who have embraced the humor of the world by teasing one another with put-downs and caustic remarks. Their language is no different than the latest hit comedy and I wonder, “Why do we think this is funny?” I know most people take it on the slide, but are we really supposed to be making fun of each other this way? Have we become so immune to this form of sarcastic humor that we don’t even realize we’re doing it? Is that what we’re supposed to sound like?
Christopher now coaches soccer at the university level. While we were visiting once we attended a game. I was sitting on the bleachers before the game started and noticed that the women’s soccer team who had come to cheer the men’s team on, had a Scripture verse printed on the back of their T-shirts (Heb. 12:11-13). I knew it had something to do with training and how a person carries themselves on or off the field in this case. During the game a couple of the women started poking fun at an opponent. The words were meant to pull his focus off the game and therefore give an advantage to the home team. While the tactic is typical of any sport, the words were unkind. After a few cat-calls, another young lady turned around, caught the eye of the hecklers and admonished them to find a better way to cheer for the men’s team. “Yes Mom!” they joked. But they stopped. And that was encouraging to me! I think if you’re going to put a Scripture on your back, you most definitely want to walk in a manner worthy of the One who called you (Col. 4:6 and 1 Thes. 2: 12 in action) and “Mom” was right to call them out on it! We should all be that attentive to our speech. So, I challenge you to take a cue from Barnabas and watch your words this week. Instead of embracing the humor of today’s pop culture, go against the norm and use your words to be an encouragement to someone (Ps. 19:14; Prov. 16:24; Col. 3:5-8).
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com;[email protected];https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre
If there is any one person in the Bible who is associated with the “ministry of encouragement” that person would be Barnabas. His actual name was Joseph and he was a Levite who originally came from Cyprus. He is one of the early “stars” in the Book of Acts as an active member of the early church and earned the nick-name “Son of Encouragement” (Bahr- son of, nuh-buhs- consolation/encouragement) from the disciples because of his generous and supportive nature (Acts 4:36-37). He welcomed Paul into fellowship when others had reservations about him (Acts 9:26-27), was excited to see God working among Gentile converts in Antioch (Acts 11:19-30), served both as a missionary and relief worker (Acts 13:1-3, 42-43; 14:8-18), took part in the Jerusalem Council on behalf of the Gentile converts (Acts 15:1-34) and took a stand against Paul concerning the status of John Mark (Acts 15:35-41). I’m sure the decision to separate from Paul weighed heavily on his mind when Paul would not change his opinion, but in the end the Gospel spread further because of it. I think Barnabas would have been encouraged by that. (And a satisfying footnote to the story appears in 2 Tim. 4:11.)
The Scriptures consider encouragement to be a trait all Christians should posses. We are admonished to fill our speech with grace (Col. 4:6), encourage and build each other up (1 Thes. 5:11), encourage the faint-hearted (1 Thes. 5:14), and to encourage one another to avoid an unbelieving heart (Heb. 3:12-13). When encouragement is evident in the body of Christ it glorifies God the Father (Rom. 15:1-6; Heb. 10:19-25). The life of Christ encourages us to strive for humility and unity (Phil. 2:1-11) and Paul considered encouragement to be a major component of his ministry (1 Thes. 2:1-12). It saddens me when I’m with a group of Christians who have embraced the humor of the world by teasing one another with put-downs and caustic remarks. Their language is no different than the latest hit comedy and I wonder, “Why do we think this is funny?” I know most people take it on the slide, but are we really supposed to be making fun of each other this way? Have we become so immune to this form of sarcastic humor that we don’t even realize we’re doing it? Is that what we’re supposed to sound like?
Christopher now coaches soccer at the university level. While we were visiting once we attended a game. I was sitting on the bleachers before the game started and noticed that the women’s soccer team who had come to cheer the men’s team on, had a Scripture verse printed on the back of their T-shirts (Heb. 12:11-13). I knew it had something to do with training and how a person carries themselves on or off the field in this case. During the game a couple of the women started poking fun at an opponent. The words were meant to pull his focus off the game and therefore give an advantage to the home team. While the tactic is typical of any sport, the words were unkind. After a few cat-calls, another young lady turned around, caught the eye of the hecklers and admonished them to find a better way to cheer for the men’s team. “Yes Mom!” they joked. But they stopped. And that was encouraging to me! I think if you’re going to put a Scripture on your back, you most definitely want to walk in a manner worthy of the One who called you (Col. 4:6 and 1 Thes. 2: 12 in action) and “Mom” was right to call them out on it! We should all be that attentive to our speech. So, I challenge you to take a cue from Barnabas and watch your words this week. Instead of embracing the humor of today’s pop culture, go against the norm and use your words to be an encouragement to someone (Ps. 19:14; Prov. 16:24; Col. 3:5-8).
Ann H. LeFevre, M. Div.
https://www.annhlefevre.com;[email protected];https://www.linkedin.com/in/annhlefevre; https://www.facebook.com/ann.h.lefevre
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