I’m sure that you have heard the saying, “Actions speak louder than words”. While that may be true in some cases, in the context of encouragement, they go hand in hand with each other. We encourage people with our actions as well as our words.
One example is seen in Acts 9:26-29. Three years after Paul’s dramatic conversion, Paul had to escape for his life from the Jews of Damascus, and he returned to Jerusalem where he tried to join the group of believers meeting there. When Paul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer!
Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Paul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Paul. He also told them that Paul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. This action prompted the leaders of Jerusalem to endorse Paul and he is seen boldly talking about Jesus and we all know the impact Paul was going to make as he spread the gospel to a Gentile world. It happened because Barnabas took action.
Let me give you another example. On June 18, 1956, a freak accident happened on a lake in New York. A speeding motorboat bounced on a wave and shot into the water. There were two people in the boat, a 50-year old man and a little girl. To keep her from drowning, the man held her head above water while the boat circled back. They rescued the girl but the man drowned.
That’s how Dawson Trotman died, the founder of the Navigators, an international discipleship ministry. According to a quote in Time Magazine, “He lived to save others. His death was just the way he would have planned it. In his obituary someone wrote that he died just the way he lived, always lifting someone up. What a legacy. To be known as someone who always lifted others up.
Over the last few weeks I personally have been so encouraged with seeing our family members showing action(s) as the needs have risen. Thank you so much, and I know that the longer this current situation continues, the more we are going to see actions that will encourage and inspire us.
We Encourage With Our Actions