Build Each Other Up

"Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Many people today are turning their attention to personal fitness and healthy living as a long-term strategy, and, among some people marathon running is even becoming very popular. If you're a marathon runner or you've even just thought about running a marathon, you've probably already learned that, as you near the end of the 26.2-mile journey, your legs ache, your throat burns, and it sometimes seems like your whole body is crying out for you to just stop. And that's when you don't have to be a marathon runner to know that this is precisely the time when the encouragement of friends and fans can help push you through the pain and to the finish line. In the same way, as Christians, we are to encourage one another in our journeys. A timely encouraging word for a fellow brother or sister in Christ can make the difference between their finishing the race that God has given to them, or their collapsing, exhausted, along the way.
Look around you today, and think about how you can be ready to offer up an encouraging word to someone today who might be struggling in their own race.