Edify

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing."

"Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else."

1 Thessalonians 5:11,15

"The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit."

Proverbs 18:21

We each are given the choice whether we will be an encouragement to others. We decide whether we will help to lighten another's burden or help to lift their spirits. The words we speak have the power to kill or give life.

In a world where people feel empowered by bringing down others, encouragement is greatly needed and God gives us the great power to strike down the negativity brought on by others. Telling people that they matter and are accepted are wonderful ways to speak encouragement into a life.

We can become the voice of God's grace in others and may be the only encouraging word they hear in a day when we speak words of kindness, love and support.

The definition of encouragement in the New Testament means to edify or come alongside of another just as Christ did and does with each of us. When we choose to focus on things above and not things of this world (Colossians 3:2) then we will recognize the opportunities that surround us to be an encouragement.

So make the choice. Will you encourage those around you? If so, then choose to commit to encouraging others as well as value those around you and in that you find that you will be encouraged as well.