Encourage one another
and build up each other.
—1 Thessalonians 5:11
Paul packs so much in some of his sentences that our eyes glaze over. For example, 1 Thessalonians 5:13–22. I’ll wait while you turn to it and read it.
Whew! That’s a lot to chew on, right? Maybe it will help to put those words in list form:
- Be at peace with everyone.
- Encourage the fainthearted.
- Help the weak.
- Be patient with everyone.
- Don’t repay evil with evil.
- Do good to all.
- Rejoice always.
- Pray without ceasing.
- Give thanks in all circumstances.
- Don’t quench the Holy Spirit.
- Hold fast to what is good.
- Abstain from all evil.
That’s a lot to take on all at once. How about homing in on just one on the list today, then another one tomorrow, and so on?
These words don’t need much explanation;
what they need is execution.