Therefore
encourage [comfort] one another with these words.
— 1 Thessalonians
4:18 (HCSB)
With what words? The
reminder of Christ’s coming. That He is
coming again.
For Christ comes in every moment of encouragement that lifts us
out of a secret dolour that only the interceding Spirit knows anything
about. Certainly the person who brings
us a word of encouragement has no idea what it means. That shows us God’s Presence is incisive and
all-knowing. God knows when we need a
lift, and such a lift is often so perfectly timed and unique in its manner of
coming.
The Presence of the living and active Lord is resplendent in a hidden way in every word of
encouragement. That’s because the word
is given at a time when we richly need it; when others wouldn’t know what it
actually means. And when we choose to
obey that gentle nudge of the Spirit, through a specific and well-timed word
that we give, we never know how God will encourage us back.
When we lack encouragement most could be the very time God wants
us to encourage others most. Not that we
encourage others so we ourselves are encouraged, because that would make our
encouragement fail its own integrity test.
But in our encouragement of others, God is able to show us the
love we’re capable of, particularly if our prospects are down. Besides, there is the fact that He has spoken
to us in that nudge, and that of itself is an encouragement — that God is using
us, and that in encouraging someone we’re being obedient. There’s no better encouragement.
Nothing speaks of God’s Presence more saliently than a word of
encouragement delivered in obedience to the Holy Spirit’s nudge.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
No comments:
Post a Comment