How To Celebrate The Success Of Others

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up. - 1 Thessalonians 5:11

I read a quote on Instagram today that said, “Supporting another’s success won’t ever dampen yours.” Reading that statement stopped me in my tracks because that’s not the way we live by default as humans. And that makes me sad because I wish that weren’t the case. I wish we celebrated others more than we compared ourselves to others.

Think about it. How different would our friendships and relationships be if we lived out that statement above? Rather than constantly trying to compare ourselves to each other or one-up each other, even if we only do it in our heads, what if we praised each other, celebrated each other, and cheered for each other?

Reading that quote wasn’t the only thing that got me thinking about this concept today. In fact, the story I’m about to tell you drove the point home even more. It’s a story that involves two of my former basketball players, Kitty and Addyson.

These two girls have been best friends since kindergarten. They hang out together all the time. They play basketball and volleyball together year-round. And specifically on the team I coached, they were always the first to congratulate the other in a game or practice. Their friendship was a fun one to observe from the sidelines.

So, as I was sitting in the Chick-fil-A drive-thru one afternoon picking up lunch, Kitty texted me. Even though our basketball season was over, Kitty and I would text every now and then. She would always ask the funniest questions and in each conversation, she made sure to tell me how her most recent basketball game went with her summer league team.

I happened to know that Kitty and Addyson had a game earlier that week, so when she texted me, I immediately asked her about it. She proceeded to tell me that she didn’t have the best offensive game. Her shot was off so she only scored three points, but she said she had a pretty good defensive game and had a ton of blocks which she was really excited about.

It was her next statement though, the one she made after she told me about her own performance, that made me proud and convicted me all at the same time.

After she told me that even though she did okay, she didn’t have her best game, she wrote, “But it’s okay because Addyson played really good!!”

In a moment where she could have focused on herself, sought out praise or encouragement from me, or even tried to build herself up in other ways, instead she chose to praise her teammate and best friend.

Supporting another’s success will never dampen yours.

I was so proud of Kitty for being so quick to cheer on her friend, even when, and especially when, she herself hadn’t had the best game. And I was convicted because I knew immediately that my first reaction when I was in a situation like Kitty’s was not to cheer for someone else who did better than me. My default reaction is to start the comparison game or try to make myself look better or feel better when I don’t measure up the way I think I should. It was at that moment I knew I wanted to be more like Kitty because Kitty was being a lot like Jesus.

Scripture talks again and again about how we should be encouraging each other and building each other up.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.”

Ephesians 4:29 says, “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”

Proverbs 12:25 says, “Anxiety in a man's heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad.”

And Proverbs 16:24 says, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.”

As followers of Jesus, we are called to encourage one another and cheer one another on, whether things are going well for us or not. We’re commanded to build each other up, to use our words to show kindness, support, grace, and love to others. That’s what Kitty was doing, and what a great example she set for all of us.

I realize that supporting other people with your words might not be your first response when somebody else succeeds. Our self-focused human hearts want others to notice our success. We want people to acknowledge our good qualities. We want people to see that we’re doing a good job, and as a result, it often keeps us from cheering for others because we fear we’ll be forgotten if we shift the spotlight.

But friend, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I know that for a fact because as I got that text from Kitty, it wouldn’t have mattered if she told me she scored 112 points in her game. It wouldn’t have mattered what her stat line was, how many blocks she had, or how much she impressed the people in the gym that night. What stuck out to me was the ease with which she supported and praised her best friend, because that kind of love and support will be remembered a lot longer than any basketball game ever will be.

So my challenge to you is this: no matter what you accomplish this week, no matter what big milestone you hit, and no matter what exciting things happened for you or what bad things happen to you, make an effort to cheer for someone else. Celebrate someone else. Praise someone else. Congratulate someone else.

Remember, supporting another’s success will never dampen yours. Kitty proved that today, and in my opinion, I think we’d all be a little better off if we followed her example as she followed Jesus’ commandments so well.