We started at oh-dark-thirty. The jungle-like heat gave promise of another 90/90 day – 90% humidity and 90º F. The air was too thin to drink and too thick to breathe, much less run in at such an ungodly hour. Four miles in, staff started showing up like a cloud of gnats, or maybe rats. It hurt too bad to waste energy making such fine distinctions. I bet they had already downed a few cups of coffee too. As we ran past them, the front of the pack was encouraged by name, “Keep it up, Jones! Lookin’ good, Smith!” The middle of the pack heard, “Almost there! Finish strong!” The stragglers? Well, there were names called-just not their names. Those names were called loud enough that everyone on base must have heard.
Remember the last time Christians encouraged you? Did you feel like a front-of-the-pack runner? Maybe a middle-of-the-pack trudger? Or did you get the distinct impression they were just calling you names?
In Acts 13:15, synagogue rulers asked Paul for words of encouragement. What did Paul tell them? He told them the good news of Jesus Christ. God has been working for so long, waiting for you to listen to the message of the cross. He is the source of encouragement, even today, even at oh-dark-thirty.Are you suffering through a 90/90 day in your life? Do you need real encouragement? Sit down over an open Bible and see for yourself the encouragement found only in Jesus. Let’s study how to get into Jesus and have that encouragement for ourselves.
Photo by sydney Rae on Unsplash
