Refresh The Spirit Of Others!

October 16, 2025

Refresh The Spirit Of Others!

We live in a world that desperately needs an encouraging word, an act of kindness, and an expression of love.  Sometimes I need to receive those things so that my heart is renewed.  Sometimes I need to share those things so that the soul of my neighbor is refreshed.

The church in first century Corinth was slowly tearing itself apart.  Arguing about this and that and everything was commonplace.  Conflict with other Christ-followers in the church was frequent.  Division within the body of Christ was deep and wide. 

In his letter to the church, the Apostle Paul offers wise counsel, practical advice, and straightforward direction to help the people live in love and harmony as well as patience and peace.  It is a helpful letter that shows us how to live in God-honoring relationships with family and friends, team-mates and co-workers, and neighbors and other Christ-followers.

It is interesting that towards the end of his letter, Paul offers yet another illustration of what our relationships should look like.  Paul speaks of relationships in which we refresh and renew and revive one another’s spirits.

In I Corinthians 16:17-18 Paul writes; “I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours.  So give recognition to such persons.”  For a long time, the idea of refreshing one another’s spirit in this text has not stood out to me like it does now. 

It is interesting that hundreds of years before the Apostle Paul wrote those words, King Solomon wrote something very similar in the book of Proverbs.  In Proverbs 25:13 we hear; “Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest are faithful messengers to those who send them; they refresh the spirit of their masters.”  Solomon speaks to the people about refreshing the spirit of those who were masters over them.

You and I can refresh the spirit of another person by offering a word of encouragement, doing an act of kindness, and sharing an expression of love for them.  Most all of the people we know as well as the strangers we meet will be blessed by a word of encouragement, an act of kindness, and an expression of love.

In fact, any one of those gifts can become an opportunity for God’s blessing to shower upon that person.  God’s blessing may come as an experience of God’s amazing grace, God’s tender mercy, or God’s abundant provision.  Any one of those gifts can become an outpouring of Jesus’ love, an infilling of the Holy Spirit’s power, or a demonstration of the Father’s kindness.  Any one of those gifts can become an overflow of peace and joy and love.

There are times when our spirit needs to be refreshed.  Our spirit sometimes needs a moment of renewal.  Our spirit sometimes needs a time of revival.  Our spirit sometimes needs uplifting or energizing or revitalizing or a dose of inspiration.

I was beat down and broken.  My heart was aching, my soul was empty, and my mind was stuck in a downward spiral.  There was no optimism, no hope, no light in the darkness.  Accusations and attacks seemed constant.  Distrust and skepticism seemed unyielding.  Wariness and questions seemed unrelenting.  I was discouraged and disillusioned and distressed. 

When it seemed the darkness could not become any more black, a friend came to the front door of our home.  He listened, he cared, and then he prayed.  He offered me a word of encouragement when I was at the end of my rope; i.e., when there was no hope and no help as well as no strength and no courage remaining in my spirit.

Something shifted in my spirit.  Something changed in my heart.  Something was transformed in my mind.  Even though things were still mostly dark, I was aware that things were different.  There was a glimmer of light still shining in the darkness.  Hope and help was as close as the encouraging word of a friend, an act of kindness from a family member, an expression of love from a colleague.

Although the darkness did not completely lift in that moment, the darkness did begin to lift little by little until the light was greater than the dark.  My spirit was refreshed! 

The Apostle Paul calls us to do whatever we can to refresh the spirit of another person.  I wonder what that might look like for you today.  I imagine there is a friend or maybe even someone in your family who desperately needs their spirit refreshed today. 

Engage that person in conversation this week.  Offer the gift of an encouraging word, an act of kindness, and an expression of love.  Maybe your friend is so deep in the darkness, so empty in their soul, or distressed in their heart, that they will need you to offer each of these spiritual gifts multiple times over the next month or so. 

I encourage you to love them enough, to begin this week to offer them one or more of these spiritual gits so their spirit may be refreshed.  When you take this step, their heart and your heart will be filled with more and more with delight in the Lord.     

Take Delight In The Lord!

Doug