Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.
For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4 (ESV)
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Paul is talking about Tanakh in this verse. Tanakh (TaNaKh) is an acronym and it stands for Torah (the first five books written by Moses), Nevi’im (the Prophets), and Ketuvim (the Writings — the Psalms, Proverbs, Lamentations, etc.). We, Christians, call this The Old Testament. Regardless of what we call it, Paul tells us in Romans that it is vitally important. Important because it is our source of instruction AND hope.
Romans 15 begins, “So we who are strong have a duty to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, rather than please ourselves. Each of us should please his neighbor and act for his good, thus building him up” (Romans 15:1-2 CJB). According to Paul, and basically the entire Bible, our walk on this planet is NOT about ourselves. It is about others and building them up. And our end goal — our HOPE — is to one day be reunited with Jesus in Heaven after we have completed our God-ordained portion of this “building up others” mission.
I don’t know about you, but I can be pretty self-focused and selfish. I like what I like and want what I want. I want life to be my way and I want people to do what I think is right. I struggle hard with “bearing the weaknesses of others.” If I’m honest, I hate this about myself. I don’t want my life to be about me, me, me. Rather, I want to be more like Jesus. In Romans 15:3 we are told that even the Messiah Himself did not please Himself, did not act on His own desires or wants. Instead, Jesus’s attitude while He was here ministering to us humans was one of service to others — healing others, cleansing others, forgiving others, renewing others, and sacrificing for others. Jesus did not come here to party and have fun and eat well. He came here to save wretches like me. He put me (and you) first!
How can we do better? How can we be like our Messiah?
The answer is simple: turn to Scripture. When we do, we receive God’s encouragement and hope. When we turn to God’s Word we take the focus off ourselves and put it where it belongs…on God. And we learn that God really desires only three things from us: to do Justice, to love Kindness, and to walk humbly with Him (Micah 6:8 ESV). When we obey these three requirements, naturally, we stop making everything about ourselves and can then bear the weaknesses of others in order to encourage them and lift them up in HOPE. Sounds pretty simple to me!
The Christian Fiction Girl 
Good honest post. Like you, I find myself being selfish instead of turning outward to God and others. I love all of the wisdom in your posts and enjoy learning about the Jewish history that gave us the Old Testament that points to the New Testament. Thank you so much for sharing and starting my Thursday with encouragement!
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Thank you, Vickie! I am so glad you enjoyed today’s and previous days’ posts. God is good and I just want to share all about Him!
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