Pour courage into one another…

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I recently had the opportunity to read David Jeremiah’s book “The Joy of Encouragement”; in it he wrote an excellent chapter on one of my favorite people from Scripture, Barnabas (a nickname meaning = son of encouragement).  Barnabas was “Mr. Encouragement” – he demonstrated three qualities that I definitely desire to model in my own life.  The meaning behind the word encouragement is to “pour courage into another”.  Too often I have been “poor courage” when it has come to my family in Christ…I want to exchange the “o” for “u”.

–       He was a performer, not a pretender (Acts 2:45)

–       He saw potential, not problems (Acts 9:27-28)

–       His interest was people, not prominence (Acts 11:23)

As The Holy Spirit has led our little part of the Body for the past several months it is my hope and prayer that we can spur one another on in whatever pursuit we’ve been led to with the aim being to see the spotlight shine all the brighter on our great God.  He deserves all glory and honor.

Like many of the great truths of the Bible the words are presented in such a way as to preclude any misunderstanding.  The concepts of Body life are held in tension one with the other.    We being many are one (1) Body in Christ.  Another reason for encouragement within the Body is the oneness we share with each member.  We are together.  We all believe (trusted Him and what He has done for our eternity) in Jesus Christ.  The Holy Spirit dwells within each of us.  We are one in Christ.   We’re on the same team.  Good team members encourage each other.  When you watch a sporting event you don’t see opponents encouraging each other…at least not until the game is over.  Only players on the same team take the time to encourage each other and try to get each other fired up.  It’s normal and natural to encourage the people on your own team.  No matter what we look like, how much wealth we have (or don’t have), where we come from, what our background is, what kind of ethnic groups we are…if we have trusted Jesus Christ as our Savior we are all on the same team.  God only has one family!  If we’re in the family we belong to Him.  For that reason we ought to be patting each other on the back and cheering each other on toward a common goal – to bring glory to Jesus Christ.

Who will you pour courage into today?

GBU – Hebrews 10:24

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