The Gift That Keeps Giving

ALTHOUGH WE HATE TO ADMIT IT, most of us recycle gifts. It makes sense to pass on a gift that could benefit someone in need. Spiritual encouragement is such a gift. When we experience the love and grace of God, we’re inspired to “re-gift” the blessing.

I can’t recall that anyone ever offered me spiritual encouragement when I was a young Christian. No one reminded me of God’s love and my identity in Him, challenged me to grow in my faith, held me accountable to read my Bible and spend time with the Lord daily, or motivated me to share the Good News with others. Then, at the beginning of my sophomore year in college, I attended my first Christian gathering, part of the group Bob started on our campus. To my surprise, I was presented with the priceless gift of spiritual encouragement. I marveled at the obvious display of love for the Lord and for every variety of college kid, even newcomers like me. I returned to the sorority house where I lived, compelled to encourage a few interested girls with the truths I’d just learned.

We met together to study the Bible and encourage each other, and over time, God began to change us. I can’t take credit. I only shared the gift, but God multiplied my feeble efforts. And for the first time, I began to comprehend our God-given potential for influence. The result was inexpressible joy, purpose, and a passion to encourage others. Last week, one of my dearest friends, who was among that small group of girls, called to thank me for my spiritual encouragement so many years ago.

The author of Hebrews gave a charge to Christians like you and me to come alongside others to encourage them: “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25, NLT). God’s grace enables us to fulfill our God-given purpose to encourage, inspire, motivate, and stir up love and good works with people in our sphere. When I was challenged to live in light of this biblical truth, I passed it on to others like my good friend, who faithfully uses her gifts and opportunities to encourage the people she connects with.

In this passage, the author further explains that encouragement takes place when we get together with other Christians. In our Bible study, we not only experienced encouragement as we met regularly but also discovered that this truth of “meeting together” motivated unchurched college students to recognize the importance of attending a local congregation.

Whether or not people in your life encourage you, the pages of the Bible are full of ample spiritual encouragement. The Psalms draw us to God’s heart and encourage our own hearts. In the Gospels, we’re impacted by Jesus’ life and teachings. We learn what love is in 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 John 3, and we learn how to protect ourselves with spiritual armor in Ephesians 6.

There were seasons in my life when the Bible was my primary source of spiritual encouragement, and it proved to be exactly what I needed. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man [and woman] of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Don’t wait for someone to encourage you! You can be the one to initiate the ripple effects of spiritual encouragement. When a passage or a verse takes on special meaning to you, pass on the encouragement to a friend, coworker, or family member. Don’t keep life-changing truth to yourself.

Focusing on the impact I can have on others when I offer spiritual encouragement inspires me to share enthusiastically the truths I’m learning—just like I did when I read the Bible for the first time. God can use our words to encourage those around us to read the Bible’s inspired words for themselves. Another aspect of the gift of spiritual encouragement is that when we encourage people in our spheres to deepen their walk with God, they will be inspired to encourage people in theirs.

We can’t keep the gift of encouragement to ourselves. Wrap it up and give it away at every opportunity God gives you. Spiritual encouragement really is a gift that keeps on giving!

REFLECTION

Meditate on Hebrews 10:24-25, then put it into practice: Get together regularly with other Christians to encourage one another in your faith. Attend a local church. Join a small group. Meet for lunch with your Christian sisters. Start a Bible study or prayer group in your neighborhood or office. Ask the Lord to enable you to provide spiritual encouragement to someone today so they can grow in their relationship with Him.