Then the messenger who had gone to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying, Now listen, the words of the prophets with one accord encourage the king. Please, let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak encouragement.

I Kings 22:13

What does encouragement mean to you? I am unable to count the many times I have heard Christians speaking of encouraging unbelievers. But how do we do that?

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines encouragement in a few ways including “to inspire with courage, spirit, or hope,” and “to spur on.”

In the English Bible the word “encourage” and its derivatives are rarely used. When this word is used it often refers to urging someone towards a specific action. “He sent the priests in their changes, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD” (2 Chron 35:2). “They encourage themselves in an evil matter…” (Psalm 64:5).

There is a desire to give people hope outside of or apart from the only one that can give hope, Jesus Christ. There is a desire to give hope without truth. If we bring Jesus Christ to an unbeliever we risk offending him or her rather than inspiring them. Sometimes we think we can encourage without telling the truth of one’s estate apart from Christ and the hope of salvation in Christ. If I am cooking dinner and set the kitchen on fire, it will do me little good and some harm to hear my wife telling me how great dinner is going to be.

This is precisely what the servant of Ahab wanted the real prophet of the Lord, Micaiah, to do when he met with Ahab and Jehoshaphat. Do what the other prophets did and “speak encouragement” to Ahab regarding his desire to go up to battle with Syria.

Christians should never be confused about where encouragement, hope, motivation, and courage come from. True encouragement can only come from the Word of the true God. There is nothing encouraging to the lost family of a dead unbeliever to tell them lies like “he is in a better place” or that they “will see him again.”* One is a lie, the other is cruel assuming the family will go to hell as well, never hearing the gospel. True encouragement calls the unbelieving family of an unbelieving friend, to believe in Jesus Christ who wipes away all tears, will raise the dead, and brings the dead in Christ to be with Him in paradise forever.

True encouragement can only come from truth. Hearing flattery or lies may make people feel better for a bit but has no positive effect and may actually leave the lost sinner thinking falsely that he is at peace with God whom he has never been reconciled with through the blood of Christ.

As we step out into a dying world, the lost will desire encouragement from you and affirmation in their every evil way. Give them encouragement. But give them encouragement from the Lord to repent of sin, believe in Christ, and lead a godly life, for to have Christ is to have the greatest encouragement of all.

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*These kind and true words are only kind and true for Christians and their families and should be reserved for the same. The misuse of these truths with unbelievers has blunted the impact of their use with Christians. Let’s reclaim the truth that for Christians “to live is Christ and to die is gain.” Those who die in the Lord we shall see again in Heaven and at the great day of Resurrection (I Thessalonians 4). Praise be to the Lord!

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