“Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Today’s devotional is special. It is the 365th devotional that I have sent out to my beloved church family. As you may recall, these devotionals began at the suggestion of our dear brother, John Pauls. At the time, our country was suffering under unprecedented government restrictions. Our Charter rights and freedoms, which included the right to gather as a church, were cancelled virtually overnight. That and other challenges we were facing caused our community to be displaced from our place of worship. The church might have been scattered if not for the Lord’s grace. One of the ways He held the church together was through John’s suggestion to send out regular devotionals. Even though we found ourselves separated physically, we were knit together spiritually as we contemplated the same Scriptural truths at roughly the same time. Because I am by nature a digital person (either all the way “on” or “off”!) I committed to encouraging and edifying the saints this way on a daily basis (at least during the work week). This is my attempt to exhort my brothers and sisters daily, as the writer to the Hebrews instructed us, “lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). God is using this simple ministry to call to our minds important Scriptural truths that move us to honor and love the Lord a little more. “He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered,” wrote the psalmist, “the LORD is gracious and full of compassion” (Psalm 111:4). We are instructed to remember the redemptive work and victorious resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, which is the very center of the center of our Christian faith and confession (1 Corinthians 15:1-8; 2 Timothy 2:8). We ought to remember that because our Savior lives, we will live also (John 14:19). This is part of the apostolic witness, the testimony to Jesus, which is the very Spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10); it is the very foundation upon which the church is built (Ephesians 2:20). Little wonder the spokesman for the apostles encouraged us to “be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Savior” (2 Peter 3:2), a command echoed by the Lord’s half brother, Jude (Jude 1:17). Let us remember that what we are learning is not only for our instruction, edification, and encouragement (as important as these are), we are also called to share what we know with others. Paul instructed Timothy (and by extension, all of us) to take what we have heard and commit them “to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). Some of you are doing this by passing these devotionals along to others. As we move ahead together down the road called Sanctification, may we continue to “comfort one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18). Amen!
God bless you dear saints,
pastor john
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