Cheering each other on!
I was out running last Saturday, enjoying the fresh morning in the beautiful countryside near where we live, and something happened to me for the first time…
On this particular jog I saw a couple of wild deer in the woods, who bounced ahead of me into the safety of the trees.
I passed fields full of sheep, who greeted me with a good morning ‘baa’. I even passed a couple of leisurely horse riders who towered above me as I passed them by on the lane.
As I headed back into town, I knew that my route would take me through a park where there is a weekly ‘Park Run’. This attracts hundreds of runners, which is fantastic, but something I have never done.
When I entered the park, I could see a few runners and some people in high-vis jackets, the volunteer marshals.
As I made my way up a hill, the marshals said to me ‘well done’ and ‘keep going’! They had no idea I was not part of the official ‘Park Run’ group! Fair enough, I looked just the same as the other runners!
Part of me wanted to tell the marshals that I was just doing my own route, and not part of the ‘Park Run’. But that all seemed rather complicated to explain, so I just kept on going, being encouraged along the way!
It was lovely to hear the verbal affirmation, and it reminded me of how important this is in our spiritual walk (or could I say run?). There are over 30 times in the New Testament where this is done, here is just one example…
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”
The word ‘encourage’ means to give support, confidence, or hope to (someone). Every time it is used in the New Testament, it is in the context of the early church, and mostly appears in the various letters.
In other words, the writers were proactively seeking to affirm the Christians in their faith journey, wherever they lived and whatever they were facing.
They also encouraged the Christians in their churches to support and build up the other believers too. They were to be a community that constantly cheered each other on!
Nowhere in the New Testament are Christians expected to live out their faith on their own! It’s a group / community / people thing! We’re in this together.
Please take a moment and consider: who can you affirm, give support, confidence, or hope to, today, tomorrow, the days after that, and into next week too?
God bless you :)
Gary Bastin - Hope Community Church leader