Go Exhort Someone!

I was in my early 20s the first time I took a spiritual gifts test. It was in conjunction with a battery of other tests, so while I was trying to figure out if I was more of a "P" or a "J" (definitely a "J"), I was also trying to figure out what the gift of prophecy looked like on someone who didn't wear a robe and sandals and eat bugs in the wilderness. I was motivated to get to the bottom of that one quickly, and was happy to learn it meant pointing others toward biblical truth. I could also make pretty good sense of "teaching," and was pleased to learn that it often went along with studying, of which I am a fan. But as this particular test focused on your top three spiritual gifts, I still had one more to ponder: "exhortation." That was a big word, and I only had the vaguest notion what it meant. With two spiritual gifts and four personality traits to deal with, I decided my plate was full and forgot about it.

Cut to this weekend, when our pastor spoke on exhortation, specifically Hebrews 3:13. He gave the most helpful example, especially for a person (me) who has spent the past year studying the early Israelites. On several occasions, mass grumbling broke out among God's people, despite the fact that God had delivered them from slavery in Egypt, parting the Red Sea so they could escape, and then had sustained them with manna from heaven, water from rocks, and a pillar of cloud/fire so that they'd know where to go and that He was with them. What if, when the first grumbler started in, his buddy next to him said, "Hey, I know this is hard and your kids are thirsty and tired of walking, but that pillar of fire right there? That's God! He's with us. He's made promises to us that He's going to keep, and He's going to take care of us along the way. Let's keep our eyes on Him and trust Him to do what He said."

That's exhortation. It simply means motivating people to have faith. It's reminding our friends of God's faithfulness and goodness, even when times are hard. It's helping them remember all the ways He's cared for them in the past and faith-talking them into believing He's not going to leave them now. It reminds me of when my son was little. He is by no means a natural encourager. I used to push him and his baby sister up a steep, rutted-out hill on our daily power stroll, and at first, he'd tell me he didn't think I was going to make it. "It too steep, mommy. We can't do it!" But I could do it; I just had to try really hard. And I needed someone to believe in me and not tell me it was impossible. We had a little talk, and I told him I needed him to encourage me, that if we were ever going to get up that hill, I needed him to be on my team. He learned to cheer me on. I can still hear his little-boy voice saying, "You can do it, mommy. Keep going, mommy, almost there!" It never got easier, but with him cheering for me, we were never defeated, either.

Today, I have a handful of friends who keep me from grumbling and doubting and quitting. They let me be real. I don't have to put on a happy face and fake it. But they're not going to let me turn around and quit when I face a steep spiritual hill. They're going to remind me of what God has already done for me. They're going to faith-talk me and cheer for me. They'll even give me a good, swift kick if I need it. I'll do the same for them. That's the essence of Hebrews 3:13, played out in living rooms and coffee shops and hiking trails where we do life.

"As long as it's called today, exhort one another." Find someone you can exhort today. It may be your spiritual gift, or maybe it's not. Doesn't matter. Just tell someone to keep going, to keep their eyes on God, and to trust in His faithfulness. This life is crazy hard, and we need all the exhortation we can get.