Encouragement is one of the greatest things that the human heart/spirit can receive. It lifts you up, it gives you a boost, and it energizes you. Encouragement when you least expect it is probably one of the best forms. An e-mail, a phone call, an out-of-the-blue interaction with someone, a card, a text, a comment on Facebook, etc. These can all be ways people can use to encourage. However there are ways that people may think they're encouraging when they are not. That brings us to this week's quote...
Correction and encouragement given without love will not correct or encourage. ~ Joseph Simmons, aka "Rev Run"
In the thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians, in the Bible, we see the author, Paul, telling his recipients what love is not, before he says what love is. He compares ones words to a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. Describing how we can say one thing but are feeling another way we are just making a lot of noise.
I think there are people who may love but do not know how to encourage or correct. I know someone who sees me from time to time and will say "You're getting better and better all the time". That phrase really annoys me, but I know that their "love" for me is there, they just don't know how to express encouragement any differently to me.
However, there are the others, who may try to correct or encourage but do not have love for you. Their correction or encouragement is vain and does not accomplish its goal. Maybe it is done out of anger or haste, where love may be present most of the time, but in these situations emotions are high enough that love is absent. The next time you are thinking of encouraging or correcting, check the "how-much-do-you-care" meter before continuing with your words.
Lift someone up, put someone in their place, but do it all out of love and care!
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