Encourage So That None Shall Fall Away

I read an interesting post today at Julie Ganchow's blog about addiction. I was interested to hear what she thought about the subject because she is a biblical counselor and because I don't really believe in addictions for believers. However, as this was not what her post was about, we will leave that discussion for another time.

Julie makes the statement near the beginning of her post about groups such as the AA: "For the unbeliever, they are the best route to ceasing these behaviors. They provide both Believer and Unbeliever with fellowship, and like-mindedness. I think that each of these groups has pluses and minuses, and while they may be helpful in addressing the issues of the flesh they are sorely lacking in the vital areas of 'recovery.'" This was especially interesting to me, as I had just been reading in Hebrews 3 the night before.

Here is a (very) quick summary of verses 1-17 (keeping in mind that Hebrews was written to Jews):
1-6 Jesus is greater than Moses
7-11 Quoting from Psalm 95, written by David looking back on the generation that was made to wander for 40 years in the wilderness because they were not allowed to enter the Promised Land.
**cool note on verse 7, note that the author of Hebrews is quoting the Psalms and introduces by saying "as the Holy Spirit said" WOW! There is an awesome reference to the point of Scripture being God-breathed that I never noticed before!
12-19 Points out that the Israelites were not able to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief. Warns the readers of Hebrews that the only way to know for certain that one is a believer in Jesus Christ and His gospel is that they do NOT fall away in their lifetime.

Verse 13 is the one that I would like to focus on for this post "But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today" so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." The author of Hebrews is warning us that sin is deceitful. He is warning us that the Israelites, who had seen more miracles than any of us ever have, still managed to fall away into unbelief. He is reminding us that the validity of our belief is tested by our perseverance in our belief. Notice the first line "Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called 'Today.'" There are several applications that we can take from this statement.

First, we need to be in a position to encourage one another. We need to have deep enough relationships that we can take part in mutual encouragement. "Hey, look out for sin; it's bad," does not count as encouragement. More of a "Hey no kidding, thanks for nothing!" statement! We need to be aware of what is going on in each other's lives. We need to be aware of what is going on in each other's minds and hearts and emotions. We need to be aware of each other's struggles and trials. If these things are not happening, then we are simply not in a position to encourage.

Second, we need to be in a position to encourage one another daily. Saying a vauge "hello" to a couple of people on your way in and out of church on Sunday morning does not count. We need to be in relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ to the point where we have the opportunity to encourage day to day.

So where am I going with all of this? People go to AA meetings every day. If they truly want to stop being an alcoholic, they work as hard as they can to get accountability and support from those who are going through the same things they are. They stand up in front of large groups of people and declare, "I am an alcoholic." They encourage successes and, when failure occurs, work to get the one that fell back on his or her feet.

This is all well and good for unbelievers. But as Christians, we have something far greater. We do not need to go to groups such as AA to help us recover from sin. Why? Because we have the church. We have a group of brothers and sisters who are all going through the same things that we are. We have people who are always there to hold us accountable and offer us support. We should be cheering the growth we see in each other's lives and encouraging more. We should not be afraid to share our sin with others, knowing that we will not be judged, but exhorted to repent and offered assistance in doing so.

And why should all this be happening? Because sin is deceitful. And there is always the possibility of falling away. We do not know each other's hearts and so we accept that if someone say that they are a believer then they are. But we know that many have fallen away so we encourage each other in the faith every day.

Sisters, may I encourage you to find someone today, a sister in Christ that you do not know well, and seek to develop a relationship with her? May I encourage you to take a more active role in all of your relationships with believers?

Day After Thanksgiving Tradition

Here are some pictures of our family and some friends on the day after Thanksgiving. Every year we make cookies and decorate the tree while listening to Christmas music and drinking eggnog. This day was made extra special by the edition of good friends.






Me and my hubby

Me with my mom, Shelly, Grandma Bev, and daughter Noelle
Debbie Miller and Noelle
Hehe...this was Jackson's idea!!
So cute!
Jackson was beyond excited about the Brewers Christmas ornament.
Silas being cute
Makin' the Tree
Debbie and Noelle
Me and my girls!
Nichole and Rebekah with Jackson and Calvin
Bekah and Calvin
Finishing up the tree

Tom gettin' rowdy with the boys!

Thoughts on Friendship

Over at Boundless, Suzanne Hadley writes about the 5 friends every woman should have.

1. The Intercessor

2. The Celebrator

3. The Encourager

4. The Teacher

5. The Questioner

A while back ago I came across this article and I would encourage anyone interested on becoming a better friend to read it. If you are interested on my initial reaction to this article, you can read it here.

Lately I have been pondering what makes a bad friend. You know, the kind of friend every woman wants to avoid!

I have been thinking about it because I want to avoid being such a person. I do not want to be the kind of person saying, " I really don't know why they avoid me all the time." or "I don't understand why we don't get together much anymore." or, " We used to be close and now they seem constantly annoyed by me." I guess this would seem somewhat selfish, but I think being a good friend and enjoying good God-given relationships, gives glory to God. It certainly provides opportunities to encourage one another to persevere until the day of the Lord. Whereas, if you are a bad friend, you will have a hard time maintaining any sort of meaningful, helpful relationships.

So, here are few types of friends I think we all avoid and should avoid being.

1. The Arrogant. This is the person who thinks very highly of his/her self. This person frequently compares themself to you and usually comes out on top. They spend much time showing off their wisdom, knowledge and superior preferences. Their thoughts and ways of doing things are always superior to yours. They make you feel like everything is a competition and that you are competing way out of your league. This person's mannerisms and tone of voice drives you crazy.

The rest of these are really outworkings of the arrogant.

2. The Wounder. Yes, Faithful are the wounds of a friend and deceitful are the kisses of an enemy, but COME ON.... it's not the only thing friends do. A friend is also friendly. Do you always feel compelled to correct? Have you ever thought of encouraging more than you correct or criticize? If the wounding must take place, is it out of a motive to express love and build them up in the faith? Do they understand it is for their good? Have you previously been encouraging and a faithful friend in other areas? If you are known for wounding, you will find yourself without friends, plain and simple.

3.The Belittler. This is someone who takes as many opportunities as they can to cut you down. You are a Belittler if the people around you always expect you to mock them and put down their ideas and way of doing things. They make fun of your job, education, family, recreation, hobbies- your general likes and dislikes. The belittler's children are always better than yours and the way they run their family is better as well.

4.The Gossip. This is an obvious one. This is the woman who has the attitude that Clairee (Steel Magnolias) had. " If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me". We need to avoid such a friend and avoid being such a "friend".

5.The instigator/meddler. This is the woman who loves to tell you how things should be done in your household. She doesn't mind mocking or criticizing your husband. She enjoys telling you that you and your husband are doing things wrongly.

I need to ask if I see myself in any of these. Do my friends see any of this? Maybe a good way to evaluate, would be to look around and see if I have any real friends. Do people avoid me? Have I been able to successfully maintain close relationships? If not, why not?

4th of July Pictures

Esme put together this slideshow of pictures that she took during our church picnic. Enjoy

Note: you have to use the match to light the firework to start it...that took me a while to figure out. Hopefully you are all smarter than I am, but just in case. :)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jas' is celebratin'

Here are some fun pics of Jas, Esme, Nichole and I at the Texas Roadhouse celebrating Jas' birthday. She just turned 29 but was sort of wary of the upcoming big 3-0 , so we decided to break her in to it early. We told the waitress that she was turning 30 soon and so when we were done with our food, they wheeled out a glorified wooden sawhorse with a real saddle on it and announced to everyone that she was celebrating her 30th birthday. Then they/we made her saddle on up and everyone wished her a happy birthday with a warm Texas Roadhouse "YeeHaw!". You should have seen the look on her face. Priceless.. so we took pictures. She was a great sport and we all had a really fun time! Here are the pics for y'all to enjoy. Afterwards, we did tell the waitress that though Jas' 30th birthday was really not quite a year away, it still seems very soon for Jas'.