“…let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works” Hebrews 10:24. As Christians we are to live and do those things that glorify God, and we are also responsible to encourage and incite one another to do the same! God has so ordained that we need one another; as Christians we are a family that functions like a body in which every member has its role (see 1 Corinthians 12:14-27) and is incomplete without the others! We should be cultivators of love and good works and are told to “pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another” Romans 14:19. To edify is architectural language, meaning we are to build one another up, yes, we become house builders in the kingdom of God as we “edify one another” 1 Thessalonians 5:11. The Bible says “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” Proverbs 27:17; the countenance has to do with the face and is used in a great variety of applications, in our application here we become like sharpening tools to each other! This happens through inner activity as we encourage each other. Malachi 3:16 KJV says “Then they that feared the Lord spake often to one another: and the Lord hearkened (listened or paid attention), and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him…” Hebrews 10:25 seems to continue the thought of verse 24 as it instructs us, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Throughout Scripture “the Day” and “the Day of the Lord” is referring to the end times, and I believe here it is speaking of the Return of Jesus. These instructions seem to be especially important in the light of His imminent return as is being evidenced by those Biblical signs that are so evident all around us every day. Remember “let us consider (fully observe) one another (not to find faults, but) in order to stir up (incite to) love and good works”.
Encourage your brother
By Rose Hill
God wants us to encourage one another,
Producing good works in our sister and brother.
Working at building His kingdom here,
For the coming of the Lord is drawing near.
Unless otherwise stated Scripture quotations are from the New King James Version copyright …1982 by Thomas Nelson Co. used by permission.