Always Try - Encouragement Café - August 2, 2017

Always Try
By Paris Renae
Wednesday, August 2, 2017

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

Aren’t we all a little tired of tweets, likes, smileys, and thumbs up? The constant desire for more and the let-down of not being ‘liked’ – by people we don’t even know? Maybe we need an ‘insincere love’ break.

Facebook posts get lost in the feed and thumbs up are forgotten – but what about an old fashioned handwritten note? A real phone call? Or how about a bear hug to show you appreciate someone?

Maybe the advances that fill up our time are leaving our hearts a bit empty.

Still there is a love letter that endures - so encouraging that it is carried close by those it was written to. Sometimes we carry the thick book, sometimes it is an app on our phone.

But it never disappears. It has a way of working itself into our hearts and souls – there to call on in our glummest times and to rejoice with in our joys.

God knew we would need His Bible as our constant, but He also knows we need encouragement with skin on. Throughout His Word He tells us to build each other up.

Even those that are difficult – He calls us to bless them. Even when we don’t feel like it – He tells us to always try.

“Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.” 1 Thessalonians 5:15 NIV

No one walks this earth that doesn’t have the deep down longing to know they have value, that somebody cares. Hard as it may be for us to look at the homeless man with the sign, maybe a smile could help as much as a dollar.

Even the wealthy banker walking Wall Street needs to know his net worth is not his stock portfolio, but that he is a wonderful creation of God.

Our Father lavishes mercy, love, and grace on us – not to hold on to, but to flow out of us to the souls we pass each day. Who knows, maybe picking up the dropped car keys, holding the door open, or saying hello to a stranger could change a heart.

Then bring it on home – kind words at the end of a busy day, tender voice to a trying toddler, patience for the needy neighbor.

What about you? Need some reassurance? Let’s take the challenge to always try to share the heart of Jesus, our Encourager.

Father, we live in a fake world of encouragement. Facebook and Hollywood tell us we are not valuable if we are not ‘liked’ or if we don’t have what others have. But you know our real heart need. Train our hearts to be tender vessels that overflow Your goodness. And not just to those it’s easy to love, but to all you bring in our path. May we always try to live and love the way You had Your Son model for us. In Jesus’ Name, Amen

© 2017 by Paris Renae. All rights reserved.

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