Encourage

Good Morning,

1 Thessalonians 4:17-18 (New International Version)
Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Something was pointed out to me this morning as I checked my e-mail. The fact that I learned was that Paul used the word "encourage" more than a dozen times in his various epistles. I guess I consider this an important fact because I firmly believe that God speaks to us important topics by repeating a word or thought several times so that we will not miss it. I would guess that encouragement is something that God wants us to do for one another on a regular and ongoing basis. Wouldn't you agree?

Then the thought came to me...or, rather, a question came into my mind...I wonder why we don't encourage more people and why we don't encourage more often? I mean, it's not that encouraging one another is a difficult thing to do, is it? We don't have to be financially well of to encourage. We don't have to be highly educated to encourage. We don't need an abundance of spare time to encourage. We really don't need ANYTHING at all to encourage one another...except caring enough for others and loving each other enough to encourage each other.

So why in the world does it seem such a difficult thing to do? This encouraging each other? Do YOU have an answer to this dilema? I surely don't. I guess it's simply because we find ourselves so busy at what we're presently doing and then just not thinking that encouraging is important enough to do. That and we are, too many of us, too self centered to think about the fact that our brothers and sisters in Christ really do NEED our encouragement to go on in something that they've taken on; something they might have taken on and could very well be struggling with.

The purpose of bringing this topic to our attention is, I'm sure, so that we will stop a while today and look to see where an encouraging word or action could be wisely used. I belive that God is sort of rapping at the door of our conciousness and telling us to get up and DO something that will bring some encouragement to someone who really does need it. It's a wake up call to us that we have a real responsibility to BE an encourager to those who are doing God's work in some way and may just need that one word or one action to get them over some struggle or other.

Let's don't hold back our encouraging one another. If God didn't want us to encourage each other, then He wouldn't have had Paul write about it so often and in so many different ways and contexts.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David