The day that you walked across the stage to receive your diploma and the audience all clapped for you, the day that the doctor handed you your newborn son or daughter, the day that you tucked your arm around your spouse's back and kissed them for the first time as a husband or a wife... These are all very encouraging days when life is flush with possibilities.
We can understand why these milestone moments are very encouraging, but what about the rest of the time when the day to day grind seems to take the shine off of our dreams.
There is a place where you should be able to find this kind of encouragement. Admittedly if you were to ask most Americans, Christians and non-Christians, where that place is. The answer wouldn't be the church.
The reality of this evidence does not reflect the heart of God. In the book of Hebrews the Bible says that we Christians are to "hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-- and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:23-25)
One of our chief goals at Franconia Baptist Church is to love one another by encouraging everyone not just when we hit the major milestones but throughout the daily grind. Properly handled a jeweler can use the grit to polish a stone into something that beautifully reflects the light.
- Aaron
