1 Thessalonians 5:11a

“So encourage each other and build each other up…”

Whenever you find a “so” in Scripture, you need to back up a little bit to find out what the passage is a result of. In this case, the answer is a biggie: God has shown us His mercy rather than His anger…and Christ died for us so that we could live with Him forever in Paradise!

So…

Encourage each other and build each other up! As Christians, we have so much to be thankful for, and while the issues of life in general and family life specifically can easily bring us down, the realities of the Gospel are more than enough to bring us right back up. However, we need to help each other do that! God don’t make any of us to live on our own…He designed us to live as a family.

So…

The next time you see a family member feeling down…encourage them! Build them up! Tell them how much you love and appreciate them and remind them that God does, too!

APPLICATION: Take turns encouraging each other and building each other up. Point out what you love and appreciate about one another, and then seek the Lord’s help to do that on a consistent basis.