By Brian
Mitchell Have you ever been spiritually discouraged?
If you have ever failed at something or seen the failures of others; it is
likely that you would answer yes to this question. The fact is that we all get
discouraged from time to time and for various reasons. Sometimes we get discouraged by our own
mistakes. There are times when we set out to do something good and our plans
backfire. There are times in the church that we try to launch out and do
something which we have never done before and then feel like we messed
everything up and made ourselves feel like failures. The point is that when you
try to do things, especially new things, you are going to mess up and make some
mistakes. The problem with our own failures is that they sometimes cause us to become
discouraged and discouragement sometimes causes us to give up and think why
bother. Other times we get discouraged by the
mistakes of others. Sometimes we get discouraged because of the hypocrisy we
see in the lives of other Christians. Sometimes we get discouraged because we
see people make commitments to the Lord and then not follow through on them.
Sometimes we get discouraged because people just don’t seem to be getting involved
as they should in the Lord’s work. Thus, if it is not our own failures that discourage
us spiritually, it is at times the failures and shortcomings of others that do
the trick. That is why we need to be careful about the
example we set for others, because we can set the wrong example and actually be
a source of discouragement for our brethren. The point of all this is simple
though; spiritually speaking we can all become discouraged from time to time
and how we collectively deal with that discouragement will greatly affect the health,
and thus growth, of this congregation. How do you deal with discouragement, by
developing a properly balanced congregation? There is a place in every church for
rebuking and disciplining. Paul had no toleration for false teachers or false
teaching, worldliness or immorality. He warned people of hell and the judgment
to come. He taught the fact that Christianity involved complete sacrifice and
total surrender to the Lord. Paul, however, was not all hell fire and
brimstone. He was a man of love and a man of compassion. And outside of our
Lord Jesus Christ and Paul’s companion Barnabas, there is no one in Scripture
that did more to encourage people than did the Apostle Paul—Rom.1:8-9, 1
Cor.1:4, 1 Thess.4:18, 5:11. |
- Brian Mitchell serves as a minister
with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. He may be contacted through
the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net |
Friday, May 5, 2023
Understanding How the Church Grows—Encouragement
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