I want to be like Tychicus

I must confess that today was not one of my most "Christian" days. I had a bone to pick with someone, and I picked it. More like I bulldozed it! It wasn't one of those moments to be proud of. It was actually painful. It was a moment when I felt that I had to confront something, and was right to feel the way I felt, but didn't necessarily deal with it in the right way. As I went through the day, I began to focus (ironically) on the word, "Encouragement". I must admit...this is not an easy word for me.

I am a classical musician. I hear the imperfections first, even in my own playing. I'm incredibly self critical. I just am. So, I have to work to be encouraging. However, we are called to encourage one another...to build one another up (Rom 14:9). Now, I'm not talking about flattery or pandering. I'm talking about true encouragement. The word, encourage, literally means to inspire with courage, spirit, or confidence. We're talking about spurring people on to real meaning, to core values, to spiritual truths. We're talking about inspiring them to attain eternal perspective and lives filled with purpose.

I don't think I realized how important this was until recently. I've had the opportunity to work with the worship team at Brown Blvd--people who are incredibly gifted, but needed some encourgement. They needed someone to pray with them and for them. They needed someone to encourage them in their giftedness and instill confidence in them. I've had the wonderful privilege of being one of those people (I hope). The other day, a lady wrote me about something I had said to her about her spiritual walk and how it had meant so much that I took the time to encourage her. I meant what I said to her (another thing to know is that I say what I mean...I don't believe in flattery). It was affirming to me to know that actually speaking it out loud to her encouraged her the way it did.

Well, as I focused today on this word "encouragement", I did a Bible search on the word. This guy, Tychicus, kept coming up. Paul sent Tychicus to encourage...to share good news. When Tychicus was coming, he was accompanied by a positive word. Paul closes two different letters with the word that Tychicus was coming to encourage. What a great thing to be associated with! Tychicus' name went down in Holy Scripture as an encourager.

We live in a world where everywhere we turn, we are confronted by the fact that we are not good enough, not smart enough, not wealthy enough, not thin enough. TV is loaded with images of (seeming) perfection, and yet it's accompanied by people who "have it all" and are complete basket cases--people like Heath Ledger or Brittney Spears. Well, I don't want to be a Heath or Brittney. I want to be a Tychicus! The world needs more people to encourage in truthful things. It needs people called to be true encouragers--to inspire people to courage in their faith and in their walk with God.

So, I'm praying that I won't have many more failures like I had this morning (though I just received an email from the person in question saying they were relieved that we had such an honest conversation--that's an absolute gift from God!!!!). I'm praying that I will see things more with God's eyes (and ears) and less with my own. I want to close with this simple prayer of Paul's found in Holy Scripture:

1 Thessalonians 2:16-17:
May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.