READING: Lamentations 3-5, Hebrews 10:19-39
I cannot imagine what it must have been like in the early Church (or for that matter, in much of the church around the world today) when a brother or sister didn’t show up for the gathering. It wasn’t because they were at the lake for the weekend, nor was it because they weren’t feeling well. Rather, they were absent because they were either arrested or killed for their Christian testimony. They didn’t show up for church because they were physically unable to get there. Prison chains have a way of keeping you in one place at a time.
That’s surely one reason the writer of Hebrews challenged the believers, “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25). One goal of the gathering was to lovingly and supportively compel each other to remain faithful and to continue doing good, particularly in light of the coming of the Lord. Apparently, some of church had been neglecting gathering—and that was a dangerous move to make. The believers needed each other in a spiritual journey that had proven to be costly.
That’s no different for us today. Though we North American believers have tended to make our Christianity individualistic and self-focused, that’s not the New Testament picture of the Church. We are in this work together, and we must walk together.
PRAYER: “Thank You, Father, for other believers who have encouraged me to be faithful.”
DAILY ACTION STEP: Send a note, an email, an instant message, or a text to say “thanks” to an encourager in your life. Better yet, make a phone call.
TOMORROW’S READING: Weekend is for catch-up and review
MONDAY’S READING: Ezekiel 1-5, Hebrews 11
