Stir It Up

 

It was the first meeting of the year and we were sharing with one another what our small group had meant to us over the past decades. As a group of deep-spirited friends, we are committed to praying for one another and our families, and being the hands and feet of Jesus in each other’s lives.  We have seen God’s love in action first hand in the various seasons and challenges of life and as such, it has been both a privilege and a blessing.

 

Our specific focus this particular evening was Hebrews 10:24, a verse that I had memorized years earlier in the NAS version, “Let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds.” Another version puts it a bit differently, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (NIV). But as various people shared, I was struck by the same verse in the ESV version, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works”.

 

Stir up one another! We often think about love as a feeling and I have even heard someone say, “I just don’t love that person anymore.” But this verse reminded me that love is much more than that! God loves us and we in turn are to love another with that same love. Not only are we to love another, but we are to stir up one another to love and good works. The KJV goes a step further when it says that we are to “let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works”.

 

Seeing God’s love in action in our group hasn’t just happened. It was the result of a commitment that we made to each other but also personally in our walk with God. We want to be Jesus with skin on, living out what it means to love one another, and yes, stirring up one another to show that love to others, both within the group and beyond.

 

This has been very intentional, and today I challenge you too to be intentional in how you can show God’s love to those around you. Consider it, pray about it, ask God to show you what he has in store for you, and how to pass that on. As you pass it on, you too will be stirring up another to do the same. It could be praying for a friend and then texting them and letting them know you prayed. Or perhaps it will look like a pot of soup or a meal brought to someone who is sick or recovering from surgery. Maybe it will involve a visit to provide a listening ear, give an encouraging word or pray for a need. What is God asking of you today?

 

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you that you always intended that we live our lives in community. Scripture is full of the ‘one anothers’ which remind us of that.  Help me today to consider how to be part of the stirring up of one another to love and good deeds. Use me today to be Jesus with skin on to those around me. Amen.

 

Throughout this Day:

It’s easy to get caught up in the challenges of our day-to-day life. Today ask God by his Holy Spirit to show you how to stir up another, and then just do it!