Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you are doing.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Are you doing it? Are you an encourager? When others speak your name, does encouragement come to mind? God knows (literally), there is an overabundance of the opposite. Discouragement abounds where love and uplifting should abound.

Life is hard and some days it gets harder. Those struggling in the valley of shadows hard need encouragement. They need hope. They need love. They need Good Samaritan kind of compassion that isn’t afraid to wade into the messy.

The priest and Levite passed by. They didn’t have to. Then again, they were too religious to be bothered. Sadly, the opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s apathy.

The Spirit urges you to encourage. Someone God puts in your path today needs it. I’m guessing so do you. It’s a gift to be given again and again.

“Just as you are doing…” Keep doing it.

Wilson Adams