encouraging – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Encouraging our spiritual leaders

Now bless the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord
who stand in the Lord’s house at night!

Lift up your hands in the holy place
and bless the Lord! (Psalm 134:1-2)

As the people completed their pilgrimage into Jerusalem, they would sing the above words to those serving in the temple.

In turn, the people working in the temple would call back a blessing on those coming into Jerusalem. (3)

It might seem strange to encourage people who worked in the temple to lift up their hands and bless the Lord. After all, wasn’t that their job?

And yet the danger for anyone serving the Lord is that they get so involved in the work of the ministry that they forget to have hearts turned to the Lord in worship.

So if you’re a leader in the church, remember to not just spend time working for the Lord. Remember to spend time worshiping him.

And if you are someone who continually receives blessing from those working for the Lord (3), remember to pass on words of encouragement to them. Thank them for the ways they have blessed you.

But more importantly, remind them to spend time worshiping the Lord themselves, keeping their eyes on him.

Bringing something to give

One excuse people often use as to why they leave the church is, “I’m just not getting anything out of it.”

It’s almost as if they expect to be entertained or coddled, and if that’s not happening, they are no longer interested in coming to church.

But that way of thinking is purely selfish, and it is not how we are to think of church. Paul wrote,

What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation.

All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. (1 Corinthians 14:26)

In Paul’s thinking then, when we come to church, our attitude should not be “Gimme, gimme, gimme,” and “me, me, me.”

Rather our attitude should be, “What do I have to give? How can I strengthen the people in the church?”

And Paul doesn’t say that just the pastors should be doing this. Rather, he says “everyone” who comes ought to bring something to give.

From the most mature Christian to the least mature, all should be thinking, “How can I bless the people I meet at church today?”

Even a young Christian can share something that they read in the Bible that week that touched them. Even a child can share a song they learned praising Jesus.

Just this week, my five-year-old daughter was singing a song she learned in Sunday school to someone who was feeling down, which said, “Where is God? God is here, and he’s with you wherever you go.”

So as we go to church, let us not go with a self-centered attitude of “What am I going to get from church today?”

Rather, let us look for ways to encourage and build up those we meet.

And let us consider, contemplate, and plan how to spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day of the Lord’s return drawing near. (Hebrews 10:24-25)