ON BEING AN ENCOURAGER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25214, 1 May 1943, Page 2

ON BEING AN ENCOURAGER

Written for the Otago Daily Times By the Rev. Gardner Miller I am daily convinced that the ministry of encouragement has not enough candidates. By that I mean that every time I see someone go out of his way to encourage someone else I feel that his number should be multiplied. There is so much need for encouragers in this hurrying, bustling, and selfish world of ours. The pushing type of person never knows how hard he has trodden on some inoffensive person’s toes. The arrogant person is unaware of how ne has hurt some timid, sensitive soul who happened to be in his way. You remember how the old hymn says, "O, the good we all may do as the days are going by”! It is true. And all of us would be better men and women if we tried to copy Jesus in “going about doing good.” Not advertising what you do, but just doing helpful and encouraging things to the lame and the halt and the blind, and the stupid and the careless, and those—and there are so many of them—who lose their way. John Bunyan, with his wonderful insight, draws a portrait of one such encourager. Look at it:, Wherefore Christian was left to tremble in the Slough of Despond alone: but still he endeavoured to struggle to that side of the slough that was further from his own house, and next to the Wicketgate; which he did, but could not get out because of the burden that was upon his back; but I beheld in my dream that a man came to him, whose name was Help, and asked him what he did there? Sir, said Christian, I was bid to go this way by a man called Evangelist, who directed me also to yonder gate, that I might escape the / wrath to come. And as I was going thither, I fell in here. But why did not you look for the steps? Fear followed me so hard, said Christian, that I fled the next way, and fell in. Then said Help, Give me thy hand; so he gave him his hand, and he drew him out. and set him upon sound ground, and bid him go on his way. That is a perfect picture of an encourager. It is the gripping of another’s hand and helping, him to get to sound ground, and then bidding him well as he renews the journey. The New Testament has one glorious example of an encourager. Barnabas Here is a man whose quiet deeds have made his name beloved. The authorised version speaks of him as “ The Son of Consolation,” Moffatt's version as “ The Son of Encouragement.” There is no real difference between the two terms. To console is something more than feeling sorry for anyone; it is also to encourage to be un and doing. To encourage does not mean that sympathy and consolation are lacking; indeed, these are the inner parts of encouragement. If you follow through the references to Barnabas in the New Testament you will get a very vivid picture of his splendid character. See how he got alongside Paul when others were suspicious, very suspicious, of the new convert! He : ; t was who brought Paul to the front, though it meant that he himself began to take second place and finally drop out of sight altogether. Paul owed more to the encouragegment and help he received from Barnabas than from anyone else. Barnabas was far from being perfect, but he was big big enough to stand aside when the man he had befriended forged ahead to leadership. You cannot be an encourager if you are always going to think about what your kindness is going to bring you in return. I look back on the way I have travelled and I realise how much I owe to those who encouraged me. My parents never ceased to believe that I was something special out of the box—even though events proved that I was just an ordinary lad upon whom Christ laid His hand and said, “Be one of my preachers.” I see one whose life was frustrated and yet never allowed himself to be roused—how he encouraged me will never be forgotten by me. Others, too—a minister, a converted comedian, a cashier, a commercial traveller, a washerwomanall touched my life at critical times ' and encouraged me. I have tried to be an encourager in turn and have found that whenever I was unselfish in helping someone, I became quietly and deeply happy. Look out for those who need encouragement. There are plenty about. The girl who is leaving school and starting out in life; the man who has made a mistake and is trying hard to make amends; the student, the mother, the daughter who does not get much fun out of life—say the kind word to them, do the kind deed, get alongside and make them feel that you are really interested in them. You will be amazed at the results both in them and in yourself. Christ was a great encourager. See how He encouraged the man brought to Him by his friends, the lame, the halt, the,blind, Zaccheus, Peter, Mary, etc. Christ always saw possibilities in everyone, and He tried to help them realise their possibilities. You draw very big interest when you invest yourself in others. The bank of humanity never fails. But to be a good encourager one thing is essential. You must learn to Subdue Self.

It is the greatest battle we all have to fight—how to subdue self. To know how to give someone else a pat on the back without expecting a pat on your own back in return is a lesson difficult to learn but worth learning. “ To smile in encouragement and know that you are not being photographed while you smile is the first step in the life that is humble because it seeks no publicity. To put your haun under another’s oxter and help him over a difficult stretch of the road is to know a companionship that sweetens life. You cannot be a real encourager without learning how to beat down your own selfishness and how not to be upset when the limelight falls on others and you are left out. We are remembered by the things we have done—for others; not by what we have done for ourselves. Self is always with us, and I know no follower of Christ who has completely mastered self. But I know many who, in encouraging others, in holding out the helping hand to those who fall into the slough of despond, are becoming captains of their souls. I love to think of the old minister who had one reply to all requests that he take the lead in any platform procession: “You first, I’ll follow.” When he came to die, those were the last words he said, but then he was talking to his Lord. When Christ has possession of us, self will be a very, very small thing.’