Encouragement

This is something that has been on my mind a lot recently, and it keeps popping up every where I look so I had to share it here. Been working through the book of Hebrews with some dear friends, and came across the following verse: "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." - Hebrews 3:13. When reading this and discussing it later with Dave, it hit me that one of the key ways the enemy tries to attack us is by making us feel like we're "alone." Have you ever noticed that? And have you ever noticed that the "alone" feeling seems magnified when we're in the throes of a trial? Perhaps it's because we DO need to encourage each other daily! When left to our own devices (and left alone with our own thoughts), we tend to stray, to wander, to lose our focus. But, when we encourage each other (and allow others to encourage us), we walk closer to the truth. And notice the key thing we're supposed to do - we're to ENCOURAGE each other, daily. Not just talk with each other, not just vent - encourage. The Amplified version of the Bible goes on and says we should warn, admonish, urge, and encourage one another to guard against " . . . the fraudulence, the strategem, the trickery which the delusive glamour of his sin may play on him." (his sin, meaning our own sin). Part of God's plan for our sanctification is that we live our lives with other people, encouraging each other lest our hearts (which are, as Jeremiah says, above all, deceitful) become hard and we are deceived by sin. One commentator I read (David Guzik) points out - we do an awesome job of judging and criticizing each other, but how good are we at seriously encouraging each other - and receiving it from others? That's my "life lesson" right now -- I need to encourage others, and I need to be encouraged daily . . .