Encourage Each Other

It is Monday morning, 22nd November, the year 2021, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” Luke 17:2

Strong words from the Lord Jesus, a millstone weighs about five tons - The Lord is not playing games. He says, “Do not cause one of these little ones (One new Christian, one believer) to stumble.” If we do, there are severe consequences. If we do not have anything good and wholesome to say about someone, rather say nothing at all.

There is enough negative and condemning gossip around then for us to add to it. We must encourage one another. The Lord wants us to build each other up - A loving word spoken today can just make someone’s day.

You know when I go into the office in the morning, often I will say to the ladies, “You are looking very smart today,” or “That dress really suits you!” You know, they just light up - Ladies love to hear that. So often we feel that when someone is doing so well that they don’t need any affirmation. That is quite wrong. Right from the President of the country, downwards, people need to be affirmed.

When I was a very young man in my early twenties, I worked for a gentleman in Zambia. He had a big farming enterprise and he was a very colourful character. If you offered him a cigarette, he would break off the filter and eat the tobacco. He would half-smoke and half-eat his cigars.

But you know something? He was probably one of the greatest encouragements to me in my early farming career. I eventually left him and started farming on my own. He would often pop over to my farm in the middle of the day and tell me to get into his vehicle and drive around my farm, constructively criticizing anything that I was doing wrong. “Why are there weeds in that maize crop? Why were the cattle looking so thin?”

He would encourage me to start working consistently and he used to really build me up with constructive criticism.

Let us encourage young people today, those that are starting out in life, in marriage, business, family and most of all, in their walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so vital these days.

Have a wonderful Monday as you become an encourager.
God bless you and goodbye.