The need for exhortation

UV 441/10,000 The need for daily teaching and encouragement Heb 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. In the Lord’s prayer, the “ daily bread” we ask the Lord to give us is not just the physical food but spiritual food or exhortation and encouragement we need daily. The deceitfulness of the world can take us away from the Lord even in a single day. Besides, our hearts and minds can be deceived by our own inner lusts. The daily dose of ‘ good news’ will encourage us and give us hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel that we might be going through right now. The phrase, “ while it is called To day” implies that while we still have time,opportunity and grace. We need to urge, comfort and motivate each other to walk in faith despite whatever challenges we face at the present time. It calls for a deeper and more personal level of engagement in each other’s lives. Much of the western world has hardened their hearts through the deceitfulness of the doctrine of secularism. When I met with one of the leaders who mentored us back in his base in the UK, he said, “ Evangelism is much easier in India where people allow you to talk about faith. In the UK , under the guise of secularism and private space, they quickly clamp up and say that it is a matter strictly between them and God and nobody else has a right to interfere.” Sin does not announce itself as sin but comes camouflaged in many natural, subtle and appealing colours. It can come in the form of an unconscious habit, a failing in character that one has not noticed, a rationalization, a covering up or living in denial of the truth in particular matter. Hence, the ministry of exhortation that includes rebuking in a spirit of love and correction is an essential part of the building of people in service of God. Prateep V Philip