Not many of you will remember the name, William Safire. He was a speechwriter in the Nixon administration who is best known as a New York Times op-ed columnist. He put a memorable phrase in the mouth of an inarticulate politician, the disgraced vice president, Spiro Agnew, that is still around a half-century it was first spoken - "Nattering nabobs of negativism." What a description of our current conversation in America. Dark declarations of disaster eclipse sunny optimism almost everywhere.
We need people who are filled with hope and who bring net
positivity to the world, those who live as lights and encourage others. I am speaking of more than optimism or trying
to see the silver linings in the clouds. Christians are people of great hope
and purpose, from whom the goodness of God can shine. Are you one of them? Do others who converse with you go away
lifted up or torn down? Does your life feed
‘life’ or ‘death?’ These are not meaningless
questions!
God, the Spirit, says. "So encourage each other and
build each other up, just as you are already doing. … Always be joyful. Keep on
praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for
you who belong to Christ Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 5:11, 16-18, NLT) These are not suggestions; they are
directives! This kind of life cannot be achieved
by force of will or a shift in personality.
We become people of hope when we
are anchored in the love of Jesus and filled with the Holy Spirit, renewed day
by day by worship, prayer, and the wisdom of the Word. Hear it again - "So
encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. … Always
be joyful. Keep on praying. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for
this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."
In the earliest days of Christianity among the believers was a man who did those very things. Joseph, of Cyprus, sold his possessions and gave the money to those in need. He found those who needed to be lifted up and offered his hand. When Saul, the converted former persecutor of Christians, tried to join the Believers they were afraid of him. Who built a bridge to the outcast? Joseph, but we don’t remember his given name. We remember his nickname: Barnabas. Why that name? "Joseph, the one the apostles nicknamed Barnabas (which means “Son of Encouragement”). He was from the tribe of Levi and came from the island of Cyprus." (Acts 4:36, NLT) Wow - wouldn’t it greate to be known as the “Son of Encouragement?”
We are surrounded by critics, complainers, and mean people. Many
are so self-absorbed cannot even see, nor do they care, about the needs of
humanity that exist all around. In
contrast, those who are Jesus’ own, who walk with Him in the Spirit, will be
other-focused, loving, people who encourage.
How I pray to be like Barnabas. Will you?
Let’s make it our prayer to pour courage, hope, and
confidence into our friends and neighbors, not phony positivity, but real hope.
Let’s pray to be owned by Christ Jesus so that no matter
what comes, we remain hopeful in the plans and purposes of our God Who rules
over all, Who will is accomplished, Who gives life eternal!
Let’s not be content to passively love each other. The Bible says, “If your gift is to encourage others, do it! . . . And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. Don't just pretend that you love others. Really love them. . . Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” (Romans 12:8-10) And there is this, too. "Think of ways to encourage one another to outbursts of love and good deeds." (Hebrews 10:24, NLT) Don't just send flowers, get involved and lend a hand.
Suspend the need to judge another and find a way to point to the Way. It is easy to point out another's flaws. It is easy to 'see' (in our self-important opinion) why our sister is in the jam she's in. Ever said or thought this? "She made her own bed, let her lie in it." That’s exactly what Barnabas would have thought, right? No, I don’t think so.
Here’s the word from the Word, a prayerful passage that I
love intensely, reading it often, and drawing great encouragement from the
words. It will encourage you and make
you a “Barnabas” in your world. You have heard me quote it, pray it, close
worship services with it, dozens of times but it is still wonder-filled and faith-packed.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with
power through his Spirit in your inner being,
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
may have (the ability), (with all of God’s people), to grasp (the full dimensions
of) the love of Christ,
and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the
measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us,
to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
for ever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21, NIV) Oh my, it makes me want to shout “Hallelujah!”
Draw encouragement from the Lord, then go spread hope and light to others. Amen
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(Video of this blog at this link)
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My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus' blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus' name
On Christ the solid Rock I stand
All other ground is sinking sand
All other ground is sinking sand
When darkness veils His lovely face
I rest on His unchanging grace
In ev'ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil
His oath His covenant His blood
Support me in the whelming flood
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay
When He shall come with trumpet sound
O may I then in Him be found
Dressed in His righteousness alone
Faultless to stand before the throne
Edward Mote, William Batchelder Bradbury
© Words: Public Domain; Music: Public Domain
