Your words are a feast. What are you laying out for people to eat?
“Correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction” 2 Timothy 4:2. “Encourage and rebuke with all authority. Do not let anyone despise you” Titus 2:15. Notice how, in faith community, encouragement and rebuke are both listed together. We need both encouragement and correction. God’s truths affirm us and correct us. We long to hear affirmation, but sometimes, our pride or insecurity obstructs us from hearing correction. We need both.
The Greek word for encourage means “to call to one's side, call for, summon.” Encouragement in the scripture actually starts by drawing someone closer to you. Sometimes my wife and I need to get our children’s attention and we’ll ask them to walk across the room so we can talk to them face to face. We start with proximity. Sometimes we’ll tell them something we’re proud of, or sometimes we want to correct them without embarrassing them in front of everyone.
People long for approval and affirmation. Our children are starving for it. Coworkers need it. We can give people gifts with our words. The generosity of your affection will open doors to people’s souls. Tell them what they are good at or what they mean to you. Genuine compliments win friends.
Notice that a rebuke is also a gift given in relationship. We don’t need to go around criticizing everyone. That breeds resentment and division. But honesty in the cause of helping someone grow is a gift to those who trust you. It doesn't always have to feel like a poke in the eye. Sometimes even earnest questions help people unearth the truth without feeling assaulted. We can correct people in love and without criticism.
Our Heavenly Father does everything in relationship, so he calls us to get closer to him and hear his heart. Sometimes he comforts us with his presence, or speaks affirmation from his heart, and sometimes he needs to correct something without shouting it across the room. Each of these are important to remaining in his love, and to living in faith community. We too can follow his lead and give people the gift of our availability and presence, the gift of our affirmation, and the gift of gentle correction. We don’t need to take crack shots from across the room or across social media. Remember our words are powerful. They can be used to carpet bomb society or to recreate the world with goodness. Let’s aim for goodness.
Tags: encourage, rebuke, correct, truth, courage, correction, relationship, words, kindness, criticism, affirmation, truth in love, compliment
