"But exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today', lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." Hebrews 3:13. Listening to the sermon the night after the conclusion of one of my favorite weekends of the year, the Southern Kentucky Southern Youth Series Teen Retreat, this verse stood out to me in particular. That weekend we spent together with friends and Christian family in worship and fellowship. This year, I had been entrusted with being a chaperone for our congregation's boys and the boys who came along with our group. In that time, I took the opportunity to reinforce the idea that the friendships made or strengthened by that weekend were the ones that would be able to uplift and admonish each other when our faith seems to fail or the world seems to turn upside down.
However, not every weekend can be that weekend. Not every weekend we can spend on a campground with those who believe the way we do, treat others the way we do or think the way we do. Our world has seemed to expedite this, and we've become more and more drawn to oppose each other, or even falter in our own beliefs. God knew this would happen. Solomon reminds us by inspiration that "There is nothing new under the sun." (Ecc. 1:9). So, in His infinite wisdom, God designed His church to encourage each other. Through the Hebrew writer, God instructed His people to daily remember, exhort, and rely on each other in order to keep ourselves out of the paths of sin. To encourage each other and to make each other accountable for any sin, even those we perceive in our minds as small.
Be sure to remember to encourage and exhort your brothers and sisters in Christ as you go about your daily lives, be it those in your family or those across states and borders. Because someday, we will need someone to exhort us.
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