Encouragement is only a text away

How can you uplift your friends when you're not in the same place?

In this three-part series, we’re looking at how we as Christians can encourage one another in our faith.

Our first article looked at how meeting one-on-one will not only help you grow as a Christian, but can also be a great encouragement to you and your friend. Today we’re going to explore how we can encourage our friends from afar, through a simple text message.

Don’t save encouragement for the weekend

As a teenager, I find that all my God ‘stuff’ like youth group and church all happen at the end of the week. In theory, I don’t have a problem with this—but I know that the inspiration and encouragement of meeting together to praise God often doesn’t last by the time Wednesday rolls around.

It was for this reason that a group of friends I met at a Christian camp decided to send each other a weekly text of encouragement. This sometimes looks like a long-winded paragraph about how our weeks are going, and others are as simple as “Remember to read your Bible,” or “I am praying for you.”

Even though these messages only consume about ten seconds of our weeks, it’s a boost all of us have come to appreciate.

Not only do I keep in touch with people I don’t get to see regularly, but I have something extra to look forward to each week.

Give your friends the motivation to keep going

Being a Christian isn’t easy at school. It’s hard to keep going when we constantly feel judged and rejected by our peers for believing in God. So checking my phone during a day filled with challenges and seeing the words “I am praying for you” is really uplifting.

It’s these simple words of encouragement that keep me going throughout the week.

You have the time to make a big difference to someone

A lot of the time when we’re given tips as Christian teenagers we come up with excuses about why they won’t work for us, or how we don’t have the time. But I’m positive that most of us have a phone, access to a computer, and a few seconds while waiting for the bus to send some words of encouragement.

It will only take you a few seconds, but your small message can have a lasting impact on someone’s day—or their whole week.

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. - Hebrews 10:24

As Christians, we’re called to spur one another on, so that we can do good works for God. One way we can do this as teenagers is by sending a simple text.

God works in the small things, too

Even though we don’t always reply straight away (or sometimes at all), it doesn’t mean that we haven’t been encouraged by our friends’ words.

Even when I’m having a terrible day, I can’t resist the urge to smile when I see a text of encouragement. It sets a spark in me to consider the question: If someone saw me today, would they know I loved God?

How encouraging others can build you up

It brings me joy to send a quick message or Bible verse to another believer, reminding me also to keep reading my Bible and telling people the good news about Jesus.

I think a lot of the time we can forget how powerful our words are, to ourselves and to others. So this week, I challenge you to send a text to someone who also loves God.