Daily Reflections

Hebrews 10:19-25
Psalm 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6
Mark 4:21-25

We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.

When I think of January, I think of New Year’s resolutions and efforts at self-improvement.

The reading from Hebrews suggests a different spin on this New Year focus. What if instead of focusing our energies on self-improvement, we focused on community improvement? What if instead of focusing our energies on ourselves, we were to focus attention on encouraging and supporting others around us?

Let us reflect on people who have brought out the best in us. How did they rouse us to love and good works? Praise God for their work in your life today. Consider sending a thank you note to at least one person who has encouraged you and helped you to be a more loving person. Your thank you note may help that person see that his or her efforts were visible and did “brighten the room” so to speak.

Are we meeting with others to encourage one another? Are we praying for and working for the growth and development of others? Warnings about judging others and seeing a speck in another’s eye when we have a log in our own remind us that this “rousing” must not be self-righteous. Similarly, if our “rousing” is about self-giving love, then the improvement we desire for others cannot be just something to make our own lives easier. It needs to be encouragement truly in the best interest of helping that person be a self-giving, loving person. How can we rouse one another to love and good works today?

Let us we encourage one another to love and to be a people that holds to our confession of hope and longs to see God’s face.