Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Happy Monday friends!

I know, I know, Monday isn’t always our favorite day, but I can’t write today’s post about community if I don’t provide some encouragement right at the get-go.

I have to tell you, I just can’t shake the idea that our neighborhoods and towns would be healthier, happier places if the people of Christ lived as the community members that we are called to be. Today, let’s look at 1 Thessalonians 5:11:

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.”

In this verse, Paul is reminding the members of the church at Corinth to keep encouraging and building one another up. It’s a verse we see quite often in home decor and printed on coffee cups and t-shirts.

But what does it really mean?

Let’s dig in.

According to Meriam-Webster online dictionary, encourage is a verb meaning “to give support, confidence, or hope to (someone)”.

From a Biblical perspective, the most effective ways to encourage others are to speak God’s Word over them and to them, to lift others’ eyes to God and His goodness, and to remind them to put their hope and confidence not in earthly things but in God.

Paul also encouraged the early Christians to “build one another up”. This use of build is similar to the term edify which means to give someone instruction that helps them improve. In Biblical terms, it means to help them improve in their application of God’s Word to their lives. So, to build another up is to teach them, to be a model of Christ-like action and attitude for them. By seeking to live like Jesus, we help others follow not us, but Jesus.

Dear heart, I can’t think of any better way to help your community grow stronger than to model Jesus for others, to speak God’s Word to them and over them in encouragement and edification.

Father God, thank You for providing Your Word, filled with love and grace and truth. Thank You for teaching us to use Your Word to speak encouragement to others, to help us grow more like You and instruct others in doing the same through teaching or modeling. This week, I will seek to better model Your love and grace to others; to speak Your Word over them and to them for the purpose of encouragement and growth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

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