"And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. 25. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
The writer of Hebrews called upon the recipients of his letter to "exhort" one another. Exhortation is a big word with a big meaning. The meaning of exhortation is to encourage. It comes from the Greek verb, parakaleo. The word as a noun (paraklete) is used of the Holy Spirit. Jesus told His disciples that He would send the Paraklete, the "Comforter," to be with them when he departed. So we are encouraged to "parakaleo" one another. How do we do that? Like the Holy Spirit, we "come alongside of" each other to offer comfort and encouragement. Let's not forget that Jesus sends the Holy Spirit to live inside of us when we are saved. In the same way, we are to recognize that we are all together in the faith. We are to be there for each other through the good times and the bad. We are to be there for each other, even when we might disagree over this or that. To use today's vernacular, we are to "have each other's backs." What it all comes to is that we are to encourage each other instead of discouraging each other. When times are good, we can rejoice and praise God together. When times are difficult we are there for each other still rejoicing and praising God together. The fact is that God has given us to each other to have fellowship, to pray for one another, to pat one another on the back, to remind each other of right and wrong. We should be able to depend on our fellow Christians to help us to live the Christian life to the fullest. We should make sure that we are dependable Christian friends and help others live the Christian life to the fullest. I have never been in a church where the fellowship was perfect, nor have any of us. But I can tell you that I have had fellow church members that I could depend upon to pray for me, to give me a word of encouragement and to remind me when I needed to do better. That is what it means to "exhort one another," and to have real Christian fellowship with each other. I hope that this blog has been a reminder to you of what it means to be a good church member, and to be among those who "provoke unto love and good works." My prayer is that all of us will decide that we are going to be "exhorters," or encouragers. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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