Mutually Encouraged

 I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong— that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.~ Rom 1:11-12


The more astute of you will notice that I have gone back a few verses. I had originally moved very quickly past this, making passing reference to it only. But tonight (I am writing this what will be, or rather will have been, yesterday night) when I returned to the passage, this caught my eye.


I remember an utter sense of dismay that gripped me on one occasion, when I found out that someone I was working with was also a Christian. My dismay was not at his faith, but at what occurred when I attempted to connect with him.

I was very excited to know that this chap was a Christian. It did not, back then in more youthful days, really occur to me to think about how well I knew him or whether he even liked me.

'Oh, you're a Christian!' I said, with great enthusiasm, 'So am I!'
His reaction rather underwhelmed (much as mine may have overwhelmed him).

'SO?!'
And he walked away from me without another word.
And, if I am honest, although I was personally slighted (which passed quickly enough) I was also grieved in my spirit.

It just felt wrong.

It still feels wrong when Christians fail to take encouragement from one-another.


The reason, or at least one of the reasons, that this jumped out at me was because I have just returned from my Church Life-Group, and tonight we were studying the conversion of St Paul and the impact that it had made on him and on the world. And it came into our conversation that not everyone has this 'Damascus road' experience.

I was reminded of a book I read once where the conversions of St Augustine and C.S. Lewis were compared. One (Augustine) had a dramatic about-face and powerful encounter with God and the other (Lewis) wrote of being on a bus journey to Whipsnade Zoo and saying (Paraphrased) that he could not say when the exact moment was but all he knew is that when he had begun the journey he knew he wasn't a Christian and that by the time he arrived, he was.

Inspired by the differences of experience we decided to share our conversion stories.

Some of those stories I had heard before, some in slightly different detail, and other not at all, but as we shared I became encouraged  to see the thread. That all our stories were different and yet they were all containing the same element. That of encounter with Jesus and his love.

And I found their faith (as well as God's mercy) to be inspiring and encouraging.

Paul writes to the Thessalonians;

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

This is the motto of our lifegroup, so it seemed especially appropriate to share it here.

Those stories that we tell each other do encourage and spur one another on to good works.

And it is not just those immediately around us that we can draw inspiration from. Hebrews 11 is there for just such a reason, so that we may read of others who had similar faith, and so we may draw strength and encouragement from their experience and imitate their patience and faith. The great cloud of witnesses , as the writer refers to them, cheer us on to the finish line, to run with perseverance the race marked out for us, to fix our eyes on jesus and throw off everything that hinders. And this communion of the saints, both old and new is part of what sustains us. We are one body. We give greater honour to our weaker parts.

You can be a Christian without going to church, but why would you want to do that, when such an encouragement awaits?

And the young man I spoke to. The one who said 'So!' and walked away from me. Why did he do that?

I have a few conclusions.

Perhaps he was only a nominal Christian and did not have any real experience of Jesus.

Or perhaps he was socially awkward. (And God knows I didn't really know about boundaries then!). Perhaps he feared being forced into an intimacy and vulnerability with someone he did yet know or trust?

And that is a shame. With hindsight it may be very understandable,  but it is still a shame. It is often fear that causes us to miss out on love and friendship.

But with vulnerability comes the really fertile soil of the kingdom.

And that is what we did tonight, as we exposed a little more of ourselves than usual, in revealing our personal stories to each other, and as a result we saw more of God's grace and understood one another just a little better than before.

Can I encourage you today, surround yourself with saints, in all wisdom be vulnerable and share your ongoing story with those around you so that they may encounter God a little in what he is doing with you, and take courage yourselves from the example of good believers, both from scripture and testimonial books, and from your nearest and dearest.

We can see God in each other, and it really is quite breath-taking.

God bless and encourage you,

This day,
And all days,

Amen