See to it brothers, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.
Hebrews 3:12-14
In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and confirmed and one which enters within the veil.
Hebrews 6:17-19
Much of the time when I hear people use the word encourage in the church, it often seems that the intent of the word is that we simply give a positive word to make people feel better about their situation, and while I do agree that comfort is something we should seek to give in times of mourning and trial, the Hebrew author especially uses the word as an "urging" for the recipients to hold fast to their hope. In other words the idea of encouragement seems to lend more toward reminding fellow believers of where their hope should be and to warn and urge them away from the potential of slipping back into what was comfortable (since salvation can't be found there) and to press on toward the upward call in Christ Jesus.
It goes something like this: someone finishes preaching a sermon that calls you to repent from worldly pursuits, resist temptation, and reject the old fleshly desires—warning that to ignore this call is to risk drifting from Christ and treating His gift as something trivial. And your response? “Wow, that wasn’t very encouraging.”
But here’s the truth: it wasn’t fluffy, enabling, or “nice”, Yet by the biblical definition, it was deeply encouraging—because it pointed you back to life, to holiness, to the grace that transforms us all and comes from a place of love and concern.
That being said, let me encourage you today, salvation is found in no other than Jesus Christ, there is one body, one Spirit, one hope, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all, so if you are reading this, that means you have breath and you are alive, if you are not His, seek Him today, come to know Him and receive salvation.
But, if you are in Christ and you are wavering, let me pray for you, send me a message through email or by any other mean and let me be a help to you.
If neither one of those applies, then keep fighting the good fight, be ready in season and out of season, excel still more in your service to Him. I love you all and God loves you.
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