1 Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. “

Encouragement is when we impart courage to each other. Just as discouragement is when we take courage away.

Maybe we can think of courage this way, “the willingness to take the next step in light of overwhelming obstacles.”

Compassion is wonderful for a moment but it always needs to be married to something else — an action. For instance, if a friend has compassion and that’s it...well, you will eventually need them to do something for you. Compassion is most stark when it is lacking and when it is alone. When someone acts and does not have compassion, the action feels harsh and unloving. But if it is alone, compassion feels useless and tepid.

Most of the time, we need encouragement — that is an action that compassion can produce. 

But if we assume that courage will arise from within ourselves, we will find that well dry. As with everything in the Christian life — what we lack has to come from outside of ourselves.

Zion Presbyterian Church — www.zioncolumbia.org