Today's Reading:
Jeremiah 13,14,15; John 15
Scripture
“But I said, ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord! The prophets keep telling them, “You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place.”’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I have not sent them or appointed them or spoken to them. They are prophesying to you false visions, divinations, idolatries and the delusions of their own minds.’” (Jeremiah 14:13-14)
Observation
Encouragement … what a lovely word. It is something desperately needed in our world, our churches, and our families.
But stop! Encouragement can be false! Yes — that’s exactly what Jeremiah is saying of the prophets.
“Encouragement in the wrong direction.”
I remember watching a show on TV where a rap group (can’t quite remember the name) was encouraging- (there’s the word) - the audience to experiment with drugs. We can encourage kids into sexual promiscuity in order to express themselves.
Encouragement in the wrong direction.
We can encourage someone who is absolutely wrong, and like a gang member, encourages his homie to go for the theft or go for the sex, we can also encourage people incorrectly.
Application
Encouragement is at its best only when it is prodding another in the right direction … toward God’s best. It’s only encouragement when it ushers another person toward the throne. Anything else is false encouragement, detrimental encouragement.
And now, herein lies the rub — how to encourage in the right direction when the flow is going in the opposite direction? How do you encourage a person who is headed in the wrong direction? Do we just affirm him and think that we are “supporting him or her?
On the other hand, we don’t want to become a condescending prophet of doom — but rather a wise Daniel, a counselor who is able to persuade righteously. When we learn this, we become what Jeremiah will define in chapter five — “a spokesman for God.”
Prayer
Father, teach me the qualities not of a speaker, but of a spokesman — one who rightly encourages in order to correct the trajectory and direction of a group, a church, a city, a nation.