Yoder: Encourage One Another

By Kathy Yoder

“Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

I love my church. The pastors, the staff, and the people who attend. The ones I know well. The ones I don’t know at all. I’m thankful for each one of them. I pray for them. And why wouldn’t I? I pray for my family and my friends daily. The people in my church are my family, too. Many of them I’m also privileged to call my friends.

One day I expect to be in heaven with them. I know that I’ll love them in heaven, I’m just getting a head start right now.

Loving one another is simply a reflection of the love the Lord has for us. “This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:9-11).

In fact, it’s a command. One day an expert in religious law asks Jesus what he must to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus then asks him what the law of Moses says.

The man answers Jesus by saying, “’You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Luke 10:27).

“‘Right!” Jesus said. ‘Do this and Live!’” (Luke 10:28).

Perhaps the expert in the law realizes that he cannot possibly keep this command. So he asks Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. A man on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho is attacked, robbed, beaten, and left for dead. A priest and a Levite show no love or compassion for the man, even though they should know the law. But the Samaritan, who is considered a half-breed, demonstrates the true meaning of the law by showing love and compassion for the stranger.

The story of the Good Samaritan encourages us to not simply be able to recite God’s law, but to live it out as well.

If there’s any way that I’m able to encourage others, I want to do just that. By the world’s standard’s, I don’t have much to offer. A smile. A kind word. A genuine delight in seeing someone. A listening ear. A prayer. That’s about it.

If I could tell my church family anything, I would say that it gives me great joy to see them Sunday after Sunday in church. In a changing world, their consistency and faith brings me hope.

The greeters who open the doors and smile at everyone who comes through, they warm my heart on cold winter mornings. The people who ride the church van are always there early like me. They share their stories with me and I share mine. And sometimes, we pray together. Being with them feels like a big hug. And once in a while, I get one of those, too.

The couple I sit with most Sundays in church, Frank and Peggy, make me laugh. But I also admire them. They are faithful servants of God. I know from experience that I can ask them for help in anything and they would immediately be there to help me. They, like so many of my church family, live out their faith daily just like the Good Samaritan.

During one Sunday morning not too long ago, we were all standing and singing with the worship band. We were doing more than simply singing a song, we were worshiping our Lord together. It was powerful. It’s always powerful when you can feel the presence of the Lord around and among you and your church family.

I noticed some activity to the left side of me across the aisle and down a few rows. A woman was not only singing. Not only worshiping. She was leaping up in the air. High into the air. Straight up and down. I admired her ability to leap continuously throughout the song. It seemed as though she had endless energy.

As we continued worshiping, she continued leaping and I realized something. She was leaping with joy. She was completely unconcerned with how she might appear to others. She was leaping with joy as she was worshiping the Lord. Wow. That moved me and encouraged me. In that moment, it seemed so natural and right. It was as if her love of the Lord and gratefulness for all that He has done for her took priority over everything else.

Immediately, I thought of David dancing before the Lord in 2 Samuel 6:14. “And David danced before the LORD with all his might, wearing a priestly garment.” It’s one of the things I love about my church. We can simply be who we are. We can sing, cry, clap our hands, dance and leap before the Lord. We can be who we are with our church family and they won’t think we’re strange. I imagine heaven to be the same way.

This week, take one take one small step to encourage someone in your own church or community. It may not seem like much, but it could be exactly what someone else needs.  

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

Kathy Yoder is a devotional writer and Christian author. She may be reached at Kathyyoder4@gmail.com and Kathyyoder.com.