In 1976 a friend of mine sold me a 1967 Suzuki 150. I was in High School, where money was scarce, and petrol was expensive. Daily, if not multiple times a day, I had to calculate how much petrol I had, and how much I needed. I even began carrying a small container of petrol in my bag, lest I miscalculated and found myself stranded. Such were the forced disciplines of doing what needed to be done to get to where I needed to go.
How many times have we found ourselves spiritually stranded? My guess is, more times than our pride would care to admit. However, it was on those occasions that we desperately needed someone to rescue us, and to get us to where we needed to go.
Of course, there is no shame in this. It is written into our Collective Heavenward Contract that we freely supply each other with all help needed—before, during, and after such times of spiritual inertia.
Scripture informs us of our obligations, and what will happen if any among us become stagnant, or get off course:
“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).
It is Satan’s goal to harden the believer’s heart. He expertly does so by tricking us into thinking that sin has no effect on the heart. Therefore, your job and mine is to daily empower one another by spurring each other on to love and good deeds.
Your regular church assembly is your local ‘fill-up station’ for mutual encouragement. But equally important is that you, like Barnabas, become so well known for encouraging others DAILY, that you too will be called a Son or Daughter of Encouragement” (Acts 4:36).
John Staiger