There is a story that Satan went out of business and sold all his weapons. Doubt was on sale for a million dollars, murder was on sale for two million, deception was one-and-a-half million, and many others at similar prices. At the end of the table was a small box. It was on sale for a whopping ten million! One had to squint to read the writing on the box. It read "Discouragement."
Here's the story of discouragement and how it can affect you in your work for the Lord.
Discouragement is one of the most pernicious enemies Christians face. It sneaks up on you slowly. It doesn't happen to you because you are sinning, but because you are doing right. It's a little bit of tiredness here, a little bit of being taken for granted there, a bit of uphill in the road and a bit of loneliness and before you know it, your get-up-and-go has got up and left!
Once the get-up-and-go is gone, it becomes a bit of a slog, and if it is not checked, you begin measure the personal cost of the service and before you know it, you're feeling sorry for yourself and the work for the Lord isn't fun any more!
So what is the antidote?
Encouragement.
We get encouraged in two important ways:
1. Meeting together with God's people. We see others serving too, we see God moving in our midst and lives being changed and it makes it all worth it.
2. We encourage each other. This is so important. If you see a fellow believer serving faithfully, take the time to pat them on the back and say "Good Job!" or drop them an sms or an email or write them a note. Get alongside and help if you see that the load is heavy. Remember them in your prayers.
We all need courage to keep serving God. Life tends to "dis"courage (pull courage apart eg dismember disable) while God calls is to "en"courage ("en" is the Greek preposition for inward.) Let us instill courage in others!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@gracepresby.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
