Show Me the Hoop-om-on-ay'

CONSECRATE Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.  Jesus, I belong to you. I lift up my heart to you. I set my mind on you. I fix my eyes on you. I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice. Jesus, we belong to you.  Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.  HEAR Romans 15:4–6 NASB For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another, according to Christ Jesus, so that with one purpose and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. CONSIDER Don’t you love it when the Bible brings two of our favorite words together twice in two verses? What a sight to behold! And there they are! Perseverance and encouragement. They aren’t like brothers or sisters or even cousins. They are the same person. The name is Jesus and your name too. This whole series has been about encouragement—and not the thin humanistic notion of giving someone a positive word or a pat on the back. When the Bible says “encouragement,” the meaning is thick. This is why the original languages matter so much. The Bible word for encouragement is pronounced “par-ak’-lay-sis.” It means “an intimate call or urging personally given by someone close beside delivering God’s verdict.” I love that—delivering God’s verdict. Now, if you will humor me, let’s remember my (some say) very wordy definition of biblical encouragement. To encourage in the biblical sense of the term is to stand in the stead and agency of Jesus, participating in the work of the Holy Spirit, to minister grace to human beings at the level of their inner person, communicating, conveying, and imparting life, love, courage, comfort, consolation, joy, peace, hope, faith, and other dispensations and manifestations of the kingdom of heaven as the moment invites or requires. When we encourage each other in this sense, we—in the most real and tangible way—become the bearers or agents of God to one another. The agency of God, as revealed in Scripture, is Jesus abiding in us and working by his Spirit through us. In other words, when we encourage in Jesus’s name, he is the one in fact doing it, under the auspices of our name. When we encourage one another in this fashion, it contributes to the catalyzing of perseverance as we have studied it the past few days—that is, “because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything” (James 1:2–4). Now, the Bible word for perseverance is pronounced “hoop-om-on-ay’.” It means the presence of God abiding with and transfusing the deep disposition of patient waiting, steadfastness, endurance, and even joy. Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement . . . PRAY Father, thank you for these words from your Word: encouragement and perseverance. Reveal the mysteries of their inner workings to us that we might more fully participate with you in this ministry to others. Lord Jesus, would you lead us in a step-by-step way in how we can encourage others? Would you give us your heart and mind for those around us and the boldness to take risks in reaching out to them? Come, Holy Spirit, and bring us the encouragement we need right now and the perseverance of your presence in us. We pray in Jesus’s name, amen.