“For all its vast diversity and unevenness, it (the Bible) is a book with a plot and a plot that can be readily stated. God makes the world in love. For one reason or another the world chooses to reject God. God will not reject the world but continues his mysterious and relentless pursuit of it to the end of time.”  (Buechner, Frederick. Listening to Your Life. HarperOne. Kindle Edition.)

To exhort someone sounds troubling, right? To say to someone “I plan to exhort you today” – seems too strong. Perhaps it sounds sinister because it sounds too much like the word “extort”. But exhortation doesn’t always imply something so sinister, or critical, or demeaning. Exhortation actually means to “Encourage” —  “To urge by strong, often stirring argument, admonition, advice, or appeal”  as in the sentence “He exhorted the troops to hold the line.”

Paul says: “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 10:1)

Here Paul is not making an “urgent suggestion” – he is making an urgent appeal – an appeal out of love – “encouraging” the people to love each other with the same love as G-d’s love seen in the person of Jesus Christ.

Frederick Buechner says: “God will not reject the world but continues his mysterious and relentless pursuit of it to the end of time.”

This is why we need to read the word of G-d often, so we can hear how G-d exhorts us to be obedient to the teachings of the word, including the teachings of the Word Incarnate, Jesus Christ. Exhorting is also known as encouraging – it is the gift that is evident in those who love others so much that they consistently call upon others to live “In Christ”, or live in the love of G-d.  Encouraging others in this manner is encouraging them to stay strong, to persevere, and to live into the Christian life – it is a positive message. 

Not everyone has the gift of exhorting, in terms of correcting, but we all can find ways to encourage one another.  If we love one another with the love of Christ, we will find ways to encourage each other – and pray for those who have the gift to exhort – to hold the line, to resist evil, and to call out sinful behavior.

Pastor Dave