Encourage one another and build each other up.  1 Thessalonians 5:11
Accept one another then just as Christ accepted you.  Romans 15:7

As we saw last time, if we’re praying constantly for our repenter, we’re doing by-far the most practical and valuable thing we are actually able to do for them. But suppose we want to do more… What else can we do?

We can encourage them. For some of us, that counsel is obvious, for others it may sound even counter-productive. After all, if we encourage them they won’t feel so ashamed and might even start to feel like they’re part of the group-church-family again—You know, part of the Body, one of “us”.

Don’t think Christians don’t feel like that. Of course I wrote it so bluntly hopefully no one would agree. But quite frankly, there is an undercurrent of ostracism repenters have to deal with in the Christian community. It can cause them to lose heart, give up, throw in the towel in defeat. So in a sense, we can help someone repent by NOT trying to make them repent—at least not by using the devastating ‘tools’ like CONDITIONAL LOVE, AVOIDANCE, SHAMING, TREATING THEM AS PROJECTS. Christians often employ things like this.

Repenters don’t need criticism, disapproval, conditional acceptance. They need encouragement…repeatedly…constantly.

The way Paul dealt with the Corinthians is a great example. The Corinthian church was an absolute secularized mess. The list of sins Paul deals with in his letters to Corinth is unparalleled in the New Testament. But Paul began his letter to the Corinthians by telling them how grateful he was for them (1 Cor 1:4-9). He writes about where he sees God working in their lives. He hands out the compliments generously.

Speaking about a man who was repenting, Paul writes, “Now is the time to offer him forgiveness and comfort, for it is possible for a man in his position to be completely overwhelmed by remorse and give up. I ask you to show him plainly now that you love him. We don’t want Satan to win any victory here, and well we know his schemes!” (2 Cor 2:7,8,11)

When we want to help someone repent, we need to give thanks to God for them. Encourage them. Point out the areas where we see God at work in their life. It’s so easy to fixate on a person’s weaknesses to the point where we miss all the good things God is doing in that person.

Encouragement is fertilizer for spiritual growth. If you want a person to grow, pour encouragement onto them.