ENCOURAGE ONE ANOTHER. Hebrews 3:13 When we refuse to believe in God with our hearts, we turn away from Him. To persist in unbelief means that eventually, God will leave us alone in our sinful condition. By encouraging one another every day, believers are strengthened to stay faithful to the Lord. The contrast is that sin is deceitful, and it promises what it cannot deliver.
There is a problem that arises when we see a hardness in another believer, but because of being conscious of our own failures and shortcomings, we keep our concern to ourselves. We should do what the Lord told us: first, cast out the beam that is in your own eye so you can see how to cast out the mote that is in another person’s eye. We do have a duty to our fellow believers to care for their spiritual well-being.
The deceitfulness of sin lies in its ability to adapt to our weaknesses or attack us unexpectedly when we are unprepared. Sin defiles, enslaves, and creates guilt. God is the Sovereign Creator who made everything perfectly, is holy in His nature, and is loving and gracious in His desire for us to be active members of His family. He has given us the privilege of making choices and warned us that even one act of sin contaminates us.
Sin is also lawlessness that seeks independence from the demands of joyful obedience and holiness when God reveals His will to us in His Word. Whatever is not of faith is sin; the thought of foolishness is sin, and all unrighteousness is sin. Sin deceives us by offering pleasures, promising success, and causing us to ignore God’s warnings. It often succeeds by making people self-confident, leading them to believe they can control what they think, do, and speak.
Sin hardens because God’s grace does not immediately execute judgment. If he did, all hope of forgiveness would be taken away from everyone who has ever lived. To many people, sin seems relatively harmless because it is something everyone does, and they are still alive. When one’s conscience is not heeded, sin can sear it, making it easier to sin than it was the first time. This is evidence that hardness has set in. Then the heart turns away from God, the conscience is no longer tender, and sin no longer seems sinful.
Christians are joined together by a common salvation, a shared faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwelling within each believer. We are duty-bound to encourage one another because of the deception of sin and the dangers surrounding us. The emphasis on “Today” is because the work we have been given is urgent—time is running out. The Lord is coming, and death is just a step ahead of each of us. Our fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ and His people creates care and concern for one another, which the deceitfulness of sin can hinder. A life of faith is demonstrated by faithful service that glorifies God.
When we encourage one another daily, we inspire, sympathize, and support each other. Prayer and praise foster peace and harmony among God’s children. When our eyes are fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ and the end of our journey is in our minds, our confidence grows stronger, and we can remain steadfast until the journey’s end.
Our first act of faith was to put our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ because faith comes by hearing the word of God. The initial emotion of our new nature was love for our Lord Jesus Christ. Our first hope was to know that we were saved by grace. Life began to flourish and continues to do so when we realized how much it meant to the people of God to be able to welcome us into His family. Our confidence and faith became steadfast as we were encouraged by those who cared for us, because we had become partakers of Christ. All of the blessings, all of the family of God have, are because of Him.
We learn from each other not to trust ourselves, but in true humility and holy fear to trust in the Lord and not place confidence in man. We discover how joy and peace are contagious when those of us who are in Christ and serve the Lord together wait and work for the Lord, who is our light and our salvation.