Hebrews 10:24-25

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

The New Testament has no understanding of a lone Christian. Time and again we are reminded that we have responsibilities for one another, and here the writer uses very striking language. The Greek verb used literally means that we should try to provoke one another to do acts of love and good works. That is to say, we should look for imaginative ways of stimulating one another to live for God. It won’t just happen. We need to love one another so much that we will take responsibility for encouraging one another to live out the Christian life. That encouragement will only take place if we meet together, and so he stresses the importance of not neglecting this. When the Christians had gone through a time of suffering they had spent much time together and their fellowship was strong. But now times had got easier they had become more casual in their approach. The writer is desperately concerned that this could deeply damage the life of the Church.

Our circumstances are very different, but the same principles hold good. We need one another! The pandemic profoundly challenged our normal patterns of meeting together like never before. But it was wonderful to see the way in which Christians were determined to meet. We found amazing new ways of meeting together online and I know that many meetings, and particularly prayer meetings, became stronger than ever. I was especially glad to see the way in which the increasing number of services and meetings online blessed many house-bound people. People who were previously unable to find any Christian fellowship were included, which was wonderful.

Fellowship isn’t optional. We need one another and so it is vital that we put effort into keeping one another strong in faith.

Question

In what ways do you seek to provoke other Christians to love and good works?

Prayer

Loving Father, thank you for my Christian brothers and sisters and for all the ways in which we can encourage one another to live for you. Amen