Encouragement

Charles Schwab was one of the few men before World War II who was paid a salary of one million dollars per year. Schwab, a steel executive, was once asked what it was that made him worth so much. He replied, “It’s not that I know more about steel than anybody else. The greatest asset I possess is my ability to arouse enthusiasm among people. I have learned that people respond best to appreciation and encouragement.”
People may respond to threats or bribery, but neither their respect nor affection is won. However, if people are affirmed and thanked and encouraged, their hearts will cause them to respond enthusiastically, willingly and creatively. (Bill Bouknight, “Just a Thought”)

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Encouragement

A Double Yoke

Mark Guy Pearse preached a sermon on Christ’s invitation to the weary and heavy-laden.

I had finished my sermon when a good man came to me and said: “I wish I had known what you were going to preach about. I could have told you something.”

“Well, my friend,” I said, “may I have it still?”

“Do you know why His yoke is light, sir?”

“Well, because the good Lord helps us to carry it, I suppose.”

“No, sir,” said he, shaking his head, “I think I know better than that. You see, when I was a boy at home, I used to drive the oxen, and the yoke was never made to balance as you said. Father’s yokes were always made heavier on one side than the other. Then, you see we would put a weak bullock in alongside a strong bullock; the light end would come on the weak ox, the heavier end on the stronger one. That’s why the yoke is easy and the burden is light, because the Lord’s yoke is made after the same pattern, and the heavy end is upon His shoulder.”

-The Sunday School Times

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