Encourage, Exhort, Comfort

  

DEVOTION

THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS

ENCOURAGE, EXHORT, COMFORT

Rom 12:3-8

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

NIV

We have come to this area of encouraging, or as some would be in the habit of saying, the gift of encouraging. So then we would think this is pretty self-explanatory and that it would be right to encourage each other. It is interesting how this Greek word, parakaleo, can be used in a variety of ways. However, it is defined in this context as being combined with the idea of exhorting and comforting, and encouraging. Therefore, if the Spirit decides to express himself in someone in that area of encouraging others, then it would also include the meaning of exhorting or strongly urging someone to either do or don’t do something, or to behave or not behave in a certain manner, which we would think that this would be strongly urging someone in the ways of the Lord. Of course, at the same time, this strong urging would be done while at the same time being a comfort to that person. This would mean that if the Spirit is expressing himself within us to encourage someone, or strongly urging them toward God or away from sin, then we would be doing that while comforting them, or being a comfort to them, which would imply doing all things in love. This is all implied in being an encouragement to them, which could also mean not just in words, telling them to do or not to do something, but to be a living example of the appropriate manner of living as being an image bearer of God. Of course, we cannot do any of this within our own abilities or by our own merit. That is to say, we cannot decide whether to encourage or strongly exhort someone. That is not up to us to decide that someone needs to be strongly urged to either do or not do something, or behave or not behave in a certain way. Although, we would also think that it is always appropriate to live in a manner that encourages others to live that same way, or by always speaking forthrightly regarding the word of God, which itself encourages us to live as the image bearers of God. Nevertheless, if the Spirit determines to express himself within us in the area of encouraging, we need to move in concert with the Spirit, without any attitudes of judgment, which would be opposed to being a comfort during this exhorting, which of course, the Spirit would be expressing that within us as well. The point of this is to always be open to the expression of the Spirit within us to be an encourager.