Encourage and Build

Daily Scripture Threshing for Monday, April 19, 2021

Today’s Text: 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

Key Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:11 (NIV) — “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

Times are tough. Men and women are going through a very difficult moment. Our planet is in its most challenging period ever. We are, no doubt, facing those times when everything feels like going downhill. And, of course, being in such challenging situations makes it almost impossible for people to maintain a good mindset. We are all together in this boat: nobody is immune to challenges. Everyone needs to stay upbeat, we all do, but we don’t all know how to do so. When we cross the threshold of peace and comfort, we naturally lose the wit and the know-how to avoid all the pointless depression that it brings upon us. That is why it is a good idea to think about what Apostle Paul says to the Thessalonians.

People lose hearts, and sorrows persist when hardships intensify: especially when they find no shoulders to lean upon. Finding help to turn situations around is crucial to any human survival. Thessalonians, in the days of St. Paul, were going through pains of losses emanating from bereavements caused by persecution and oppression. That’s a hard-to-be situation for anyone. Our circumstances may not be the same, but we all share some mutual need for extra strength. We share a common need for courage to face our different challenges.

Therefore, like the Thessalonians, we all need Paul’s admonition to comfort, strengthen and build one another in Christ. These words involve far deeper than comfort: it calls on us to edify one another is one which St. Paul uses frequently to depict each believer as needing strength from fellowshipping with one another. It calls for each of us to become conscious of the situation of one another and help each other make things better. We must strengthen each other to stay positively on top and be resilient through the strength we draw from fellowshipping with one another. The ideal of the Christian life that runs through the New Testament is that each Christian man is a source of strength to others. Whether in physical weakness, deprivations, spiritual limitations, or bereavement, let us all learn how to contribute to the welfare of one another and further the life and strength of the whole body of Christ.

Quote for the Day: “The official ministry of the Church to the world is reconciliation. Its official ministry to the world is compassion.” (Simon Olatunji)

Prayer: Dear Lord, help me when the time comes for me to be brave for others, help me to strengthen others — give me a heart that does the right thing to make life better for others, in Jesus name. Amen.

With all my love and prayer,

Rev Simon Wale Olatunji, Ph.D.

The Darling Bishop (DaBishop)

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