The situation that we are experiencing is crazy. Our leaders are telling us to stay home and stay safe and to do our best to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. The only ones who are to be working in public places are those whose jobs have been deemed “essential.”

I wonder…How people are responding.

I wonder…Did this change how people viewed their worth?

The truth…for some, it hit them hard, and for others, it was no big deal.

No matter how one received those words, the struggle of the past two weeks and the uncertainty of the upcoming months may be more than some people can handle. The burdens that people are carrying are real and heavy. They can easily cause the strongest of people to struggle, feeling weak and down. Being able to understand how some might be feeling is crucial at this moment in time.

So this leads us to an important topic. An essential work that we can do in a time like this is to be an encouragement to others. Things that discourage are in abundance; people who encourage others are sometimes hard to find. Social distancing may be the best plan for combating this disease. However, it can make those who feel alone and discouraged to feel even lonelier and more discouraged.

At this moment, we all have an essential job to perform. We all have the responsibility to be people who encourage others. The Apostle Paul admonishes those who follow Christ to “…encourage one another and build one another up…” (1 Thess 5:11, ESV). Encouraging one another is the essential work of the believer. Christ has called us to encourage one another, especially in light of what we know, as believers.

Being an encouragement to others is not hard, but it does take a change in perspective. It requires seeing other people where they are, what they are going through, and attempting to see what they see at this time. The struggle to be an encouragement is a struggle selfishness.

We all need encouragement. Sometimes the personal need to be encouraged can be so heavy that we do not think about others. What we often fail to understand is that our encouragement will more than likely come when we become an encouragement to others.

Here are a couple of essential questions:

1. Who can you encourage today?
2. How can you encourage them?

No matter who you find to encourage or how you help them, do it because it is the essential work of the moment.

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all” (1 Thess 5:14).