In a crisis, the body’s burst of adrenaline can boost the average person’s physical abilities, so that a man is able to lift a car off a trapped bicyclist and a mother can fight off a polar bear threatening her son. Author Mark Chanski makes the case that encouragement is able to do emotionally and psychologically for the soul what adrenaline does for the body. While Christians are sometimes reluctant to offer encouragement, we must do so in order to love our neighbors as ourselves. Building on the foundation of the gospel as the ultimate encouragement from God, the author—using quotations, historical references, illustrations, and examples—sets forth the Christian’s obligation to offer encouragement and then shows us how we can be encouraging in our families, in our churches, and in the world.
