CARING FOR EACH OTHER

CARING FOR EACH OTHER!

2 Thess 1:1-4

1:1 Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

2 Grace unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

4 So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

One of Satan’s most successful strategies is to isolate believers from each other. He does this easily by telling us that it is more important to spend time taking care of our business ventures or in the pursuit of pleasures than to spend time in mutual encouragement with others. The weakness of a single raindrop becomes a torrent when joined with countless others.

In 1738 John Wesley commented on the need to form “societies” of those who had responded to the preaching of George Whitfield. Wesley said: “But those who were more or less affected by Mr. Whitefield's preaching had no discipline at all. They had no shadow of discipline; nothing of the kind. They were formed into no societies: They had no Christian connection with each other, nor were ever taught to watch over each other's souls. So that if any fell into lukewarmness, or even into sin, he had none to lift him up: He might fall lower and lower, yea, into hell, if he would, for who regarded it?”

Many people have the mistaken idea that preachers promote church attendance so that they may boast of their ability to attract a crowd. The truth is that they know the danger of isolation and the tendency of faith to decline if it is not joined with the faith of others. The lion runs after the entire herd but he feasts upon the one who drops away from the rest.

Henry Ward Beecher had this to say about church. “What is the Church worth to you? It is worth just what it develops in you, as an educating institution. Its whole design is to hold you up in weak hours; to inspire you with higher thoughts and with sweeter dispositions; and to give you power to lift yourself up to the invisible.”

Dear Lord, let me not be fooled regarding the value of my friends at church. Help me to see the importance of encouraging others and being encouraged by them. AMEN