See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful,
unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
But encourage each other daily, as long as it is called “Today,”
so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
Hebrews 3:12-13 NIV
Wrote about this five years ago. It’s a good reminder of the power of encouragement, both for the encourager and the “encouragee.” Takeaways from these verses:
1. Sin is deceitful.
It’s possible that we think that what we’re doing is right even when it’s not.
2. Sin hardens us.
When we sin, it hardens us to an unbelieving heart that turns away from God. And going back to #1, it’s actually possible that we think we’re not sinning but unknowingly our hearts have been hardened and has turned away from God.
3. We don’t just need each other; we need to encourage each other, TODAY.
These verses call us to encourage others today. Not only every single day, but TODAY. It’s an urgent call of action because of the seriousness of the nature of sin (deceitful) and what sin does (hardens us away from God). Encouragement is powerful, and we need to use it so that none of us may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
