HEBREWS 3:12-13 – Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But encourage one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
THEME OF THE DAY. ANOTHER CHRISTIAN NEEDS OUR OBEDIENCE. Obeying God is never an end to itself. If we get to that point of obeying God out of sense of duty, obligation and mere action without love and seeing beyond just acts of our obedience, we are more a religious Pharisee than a Bible Christian. When it comes to obeying God, we are to be driven by love and that in two directions.
First, we obey God to prove we love Him. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). I can tell God all day, “I love You” and I may walk around singing away, “I love You, Lord” and yet neither be true. Our love for God is only validated by Jesus’ requirement – obedience to His commands. But don’t lose sight of this. We must not “do” the commandments separated from the One who gave the commandments. Constantly remind yourself and renew your minds with the truth of obedience for love’s sake. If not, it will devolve into dull religiosity without life. We obey because we love Jesus and want to prove our love to Him.
Another direction our obedience takes is for the sake of others. Really. Think about it. In today’s scripture, who is the direct recipient of the blessing of our obedience to the command “Encourage one another”? Others. Particularly, other believers. Have we thought about that much lately? Our obedience is directed to the Lord Jesus with immediate and positive impacts on other people – His people. So, in a very real way, we are called to obey the Lord so that He might use us to be blessings in the lives of His people. Are we? Is God using our obedience to care, minister, and serve His people? Let’s just evaluate that in light of today’s scripture.
In our crumbling and hopeless world, the need for encouragement is high, very high, even among God’s people. And in our own personal worlds of influence, another Christian needs our obedience to the command “Encourage one another.” Here is something to do. Daily. Yes, daily, that is what today’s scripture says of our obeying the command to encourage one another. Start the day asking the Lord to lay a fellow believer or more than one upon your heart that you will pray throughout the day for them, and reach out to them with words of encouragement. It won’t take much time and effort. To encourage one another is one of the easiest commands to obey. And if we start to do this daily, watch how our joy in the Lord deepens. Why? Well, that is what purposeful obedience does in the life of a Christian. Remember, someone needs our obedience today. May they find us obeying and being a blessing to that somebody.
PRAYER: “Father, help me not be consumed with myself and fail to see people around me needing encouragement.”
QUOTE: “Somebody in your sphere of influence needs your obedience to the command to encourage them.”