Encourage One Another!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:11); ‘<God said to Joshua,> “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”’ (Joshua 1:9)
Encouraging others is important, especially when things are going well. Sometimes we don’t provide encouragement or feedback until something goes terribly wrong. Paul, in writing his first letter to the Thessalonians, finds them doing things Scripturally well, and throughout Paul tells them this; in 1 Thessalonians 1:7 he says they are the ‘model’ others should strive to be, in 1 Thessalonians 4:1, Paul tells them they are doing very well. The Thessalonians are doing so well, their Spiritual ‘performance’ is an encouragement to Paul and his entourage (1 Thessalonians 3:7), to give them the impetus to continue their Great Commission work throughout southern Eurasia.
This does not stop Paul from providing some constructive criticism. In 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul gives them some admonishing over sexual immorality, perhaps in part to some ‘customs’ from Thessalonica being a Greek port city and at that time a major point for East-West trade, and being a ‘cosmopolitan’ city from the immense wealth it held from all this trade. Also, there was some concerns over those who died in Faith, the Thessalonians apparently did not understand that those Faithful in Christ did not or could not lose salvation in death; instead, this gave them ‘front row seats’ to Jesus (the dead shall rise first). Paul continued to encourage them even in the midst of his criticism of their Faithful beliefs. Continual encouragement, coinciding with firm but constructive criticism, helps others grow in Christ.
Paul models God’s way of encouragement. In Joshua 1:9, God tells Joshua not to be afraid, be encouraged and go conquer Canaan. God provides this encouragement with the caveat to follow the Levitical Law and obey God, in Joshua 1:7. Joshua and the Hebrew nation obeyed God in all of his commands and the first conquest, Jericho, was a success. The next city, Ai, did not go so well. Achan had held onto several artifacts that should have been destroyed, and Joshua did not commit the entirety of the Israeli army to the battle. God gave Joshua constructive criticism (the need to fully obey God), the means to correct the issue at hand (kill Achan and his family, and destroy all his possessions), and obey God’s battle plans; then God encouraged Joshua to try again. The 2nd try, the Israelites conquered Ai.
We need to continue to lift each other up, and encourage each other with what we are doing right. When we provide criticism, it should be constructive with ideas on how to correct the issue at hand, and provide help as needed, and more encouragement (‘you can do this!’). With God and with fellowship in each other, we can do what God needs us to accomplish, and we can do this in accordance to Scripture!
