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absence of encouragement, believers in Christ, Body of Christ, brothers and sisters in Christ, encourage, encouragement, exhort, exhortation, forgotten, help, inspire, instill hope, instill joy, motivate, one another, spur on, stregnthen, support, unimportant, unloved, unwanted, uplift, urge, useless
I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me face to face, that they may be encouraged in heart, knit together in love, and filled with the full riches of complete understanding, so that they may know the mystery of God, namely Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. ~ Colossians 2:1-3, Berean Study Bible
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ~ Hebrews 3:13, Berean Study Bible
Let us hold resolutely to the hope we confess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. ~ Hebrews 10:23-25, Berean Study Bible
Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing. ~ 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Berean Study Bible
What have believers in Christ done with encouragement or exhortation? Where have they hidden it, because most believers never receive any encouragement or exhortation?
How sad that is, especially since encouragement or exhortation was a necessary and expected staple in the lives of the first century Body of Christ. Indeed, it was a major way to urge or motivate one another to remain faithful, to be fruitful, to be joyful, to keep the faith, to stay hopeful, to continue to persevere/endure, to remain strong, to remain united, and so on and so forth.
Surely God knew that we all would need encouragement. Surely God knew how we all would feel when encouragement was absent from our lives—useless, forgotten, unwanted, unimportant, and/or unloved, just for starters. No wonder the apostles instructed and expected the first century Body of Christ members to encourage one another DAILY, as in the following verse: “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” ~ Hebrews 3:13, NASB
So, again, I ask: What have believers in Christ done with encouragement or exhortation? Without a doubt, it is sad that God’s children do not encourage ALL their brothers and sisters in Christ, when they have the opportunities to do so—sad that so many believers, instead, think it is okay to pick and choose the people they will give support to, give hope to, give help to, show love to, inspire, strengthen, and etcetera. My brothers and sisters in Christ, we must do much better than that!
Grace to every brother and sister in Christ . . . . . Every blessing . . . . .
Gone Fishin' 
Very true Nadine! I have not settled in a church body since moving to this state. I have found it to be a challenge…
Dear Mother Hen,
I absolutely understand what you are feeling, and I truly understand and have felt myself what you mean about how finding a “church” home is challenging. For sure, the Holy Spirit has been making many of the Lord’s disciples “uncomfortable” in so many of our American churches today–He has been showing the Lord’s true believers why they don’t and won’t fit in anymore.
Unfortunately, too many of our churches worldwide either have the Laodicean spirit, or the Jezebel spirit, or they are teaching the heretical doctrines of Balaam and the Nicolaitans, or they are teaching the prosperity Gospel, or have moved away from their FIRST love, and so on and so forth. In short, our churchgoers today are so far removed from the fellowship and worship life that the Ekklesia Christ started in the first century demonstrated that we now have way too many believers who think it is strange when true believers long for that same kind of koinonia the apostles write about in the New Testament. That is why finding a new “church” home is challenging these days, because genuine koinonia does not exist in most of our churches today.
One of the reasons why we are so far removed from living the same kind of lives as those early Christians who demonstrated the godly way to fellowship, and one of the reasons why we are so far removed from truly worshipping God in Spirit and in Truth like those early Christians did both have to do with our own selfish need to be the center of attention. You can see that selfishness, as well as the envy, jealousy, and hatred, in the Christian blog community, for example. Most “Christian” bloggers don’t REALLY encourage other bloggers, because too many of them fear other bloggers will outshine them–will have a larger audience and, as a result, will receive more LIKES and comments than they will get. Most WordPress bloggers certainly don’t encourage sound doctrine and uncomfortable biblical truths. Just look at how many WordPress bloggers LIKE or comment on my poetry or my lighter postings–almost as many who LIKE or comment on my hard to swallow truths postings.
My point is that if you are finding it a challenge to unite with a church in your area, then the Holy Spirit is revealing reasons to you why you shouldn’t. Listen to Him. I have a home church in Phoenix; that is, I “joined” a Phoenix church years before I left for the Asian Mission Fields. It was still my church while I lived in many other countries and in several American cities before I returned to Phoenix in 2008. I now live in Glendale, AZ, but the Phoenix church is still my home church, even though for years I have found it challenging to fellowship with the members there and challenging to participate in “their” worship services.
Be encourage, Mother Hen. Peace to you . . . . . Every blessing . . . . .
Nadine
From my heart I thank you!