You Need Encouragement TODAY
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
Print, Study and Apply
Title: You Need Encouragement TODAY
Keywords:
“accountability”
Welcome
to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual
temptation.
Passage: Hebrews 3:13*
But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Questions
1. According to the verse above, how frequently should encouragement be taking place among "the brethren"?
2. According to the verse, what is liable to happen if we DON’T encourage each other?
Practical help
Hebrews 3:13 is tailor-made for men and women who struggle with a besetting sin — like lustfully using pornography. The main ideas to take away from the verse are:
- Interaction among believers should be for the purpose of encouragement (urging each other to obey God)
- This interaction should be a regular feature of DAILY life (weekly won’t cut it)
- Encouraging interaction will safeguard against "hardening of the [spiritual] arteries"
It would be difficult to overestimate the power of genuine, Christ-centered relating when it comes to leading a God-honoring life. Psychologist and Christian counselor Larry Crabb once wrote that the presence of a few friends with whom a man could be honest about struggles and who would urge him to follow God is a great treasure when it comes to embracing purity and standing strong in the face of sexual temptation.
The author of the book of Hebrews wants you and me to be real with our struggles with a select group of fellow strugglers. Invite accountability. Ask for encouragement from friends to help you resist temptation. When we pursue that kind of genuine relating, we find the kind of help that really helps.
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*"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright
The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by
permission."
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