Many moons ago my buddy Bill had a band he called “God’s Little Sheriff”; basically he was playing off the idea of so many Christian adults/leaders that we were around in the church that seemed more concerned with regulating our behavior than where our hearts were… people that told us God loved us, with scowls on their faces. When I trusted Christ as my savior, it was following a clear presentation of what God had done for me! I truly believed that God showed His love to me by sending Jesus to die in my place (See Romans 5:8)… I believed (and still do) He was (is) on my side!
Yet quickly after hearing and responding to the Gospel, the churches/leaders I was involved with over the rest of my youth seemed to turn… I didn’t always get the feeling that they were “on my side.” I definitely did not look forward to hearing from most of them… they seemed to just want to pound on us about the stuff we were “doing wrong” and their version of what to “do right” seemed to just be “don’t do wrong!”
As I have gotten older, I realize that in their minds they were simply trying to steer us right… they wanted us to avoid the bad consequences of bad choices. Yet, I don’t remember many encouragers in my youth. (And to be honest, I am sure there were many times I simply didn’t want to listen.)
Yes, it is true that we are told in Scripture to hold each other accountable. Hebrews 10 tells us to “consider one another” (vs 24)… to keep each other in our sites. It also tells us “to exhort one another” (vs 25).
Yet, we are “to consider one another IN ORDER to stir up love and good works…” And we are to “exhort” which means to encourage… or to call to one’s side. The picture here is of being teammates that want each other to “play the game well.”
Let me put it into our typical sports analogies… I’m not encouraging to my teammates if all I tell them is what they shouldn’t do… I never cheer, “Don’t double dribble! Don’t travel! Don’t make bad passes! Don’t miss shots! I want to stir up and encourage the right stuff, not just the avoidance of the wrong stuff…
If your teammate doesn’t know you are on his side, he won’t be looking for a “pass” from you! Have you ever thrown something to someone that wasn’t looking and accidently hit them with it? Even though it may be something good and needed, it still initially makes the person that got hit upset. Correction and encouragement come across much better when we are looking to our teammates for it, when we know we are on each other’s side! This is TEAMWORK!
I struggled with leaders when I was young because, even when they were trying to look out for my best, their demeanors didn’t make me feel like they were on my side/team… and the bottom line:
BOTTOM LINE: DON’T PASS TO SOMEONE THAT ISN’T LOOKING!
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