Daily Devotional
What We Need Are Encouragers

November 25, 2024

Ponder This

One day when I was a kid, I shimmied up a coconut tree to get a coconut. It was a big tree. I had my arm around a palm frond, and suddenly, the palm frond came loose; the coconut came loose; and I came loose. I slipped down the tree and hit the ground. I fell on the grass, but my left arm fell on the sidewalk and splintered my elbow, the bone jutting out of the skin. It was awful. I was lying there on the ground, writhing.

My brother was there too. He didn’t run all over town, saying, “Hey, Adrian fell, Adrian fell!” He didn’t stand there and say, “Adrian, you’re the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen. Couldn’t you see the palm leaf was yellow?” He didn’t give me a lecture, and He didn’t leave me, thinking I was no good anymore with a broken arm. No, my brother came alongside of me and gave me some tender, loving help. Thank God, I’ve got that arm again to use.

Some people fall, but they don’t need us going around gossiping about it. They don’t need lectures. They don’t need people leaving them behind when they are wounded. No, we need some Barnabas types. We need people with tender, loving care. The word “restore” in the Greek is the term for setting a bone. It’s tender, loving care.

• When has someone encouraged you when you have fallen?
• How can encouragement make a difference when you have failed?

Practice This

Encourage someone who has struggled in the faith.