Hebrews 10:23-25 
“Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (NLT)

“So let’s do it—full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out. Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.” (The Message)

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Here are three things we require to live in the epicenter of God’s overflowing grace:

1. Trust God to keep his promises.
2. Firmly encourage one another toward love and good works.
3. Worship together regularly, and more often than most people consider regular.

God has never failed to keep a promise. This does not include the promises we dreamed up after eating too much spicy food with too little antacid. These are the promises recorded in the pages of the Bible. His promises and his purpose are so much bigger and grander than ours that we will not begin to compare them.

If you are going to jab someone with a sharp stick, make sure it is intended to move them into loving attitudes and beneficial service. You will know true transformation is happening when you no longer need the stick.

Set Sunday worship as your default. Yes, life happens. Illness occurs. Travel takes us away. Work, unfortunately, encroaches from time to time. An assumption to live by is that you will attend worship each of the fifty-two Sundays in front of you each year. 

Something happens in us when we gather with others who know and love Jesus. Singing is enriched. Teaching is deepened. Wholesome relationships declare how the whole world could be if everyone met Jesus and lived in the light of his truth and grace. 

Some of God’s promises keep us waiting like children wait for Christmas morning. The wait is worth it. 

Some pokes with a sharp stick irritate us. The engagement in serving others grows our hearts like the Grinch’s.

Some worship services lack luster. The encounters with God’s words of life and the fellowship of fellow travelers on this path can turn even the least grand expressions of worship into transformative encounters. 

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I will trust God, encourage others, and worship with gladness.

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Our Father, I trust you from the bottom of my heart. I will encourage others and enjoy the encouragement this brings to my own heart. I will worship you with gladness with others who likewise know and love you and seek to honor you with our lives. Amen.