He traveled through that area, speaking many words of encouragement to the people, and finally arrived in Greece. – Acts 20:2

Today's Scripture Reading (April 15, 2024):  Acts 20

I am on X (formerly Twitter). You can find me @garrythepastor on the social media site. One reason I am on the site is for the online community, although with some recent changes, I am finding it increasingly more challenging to participate in that community.

A few years ago, I received a message from someone on Twitter with a request. They gave me a person's Twitter name and said, 'Hey, would you (in 140 characters or less) encourage this person who is having a rough day."

My initial reaction probably wasn't that great. It was, "I can't do that." It is not that I didn't want to, but who wants to hear from me? The person in question lived in Texas, and I didn't know this person at all, not even through social media. But I happened to be speaking on encouragement the following Sunday, so I also felt that I needed to live my message.

So I tweeted. "Hey, someone asked me to pray for you. So, I am. Remember, God is in control." I pushed the send button. Did I do it good enough? I wasn't sure.

A little later, a message came back. Thanks; nothing else. Then later, another message; this message was a direct message just between me and this person. She opened up a bit more, telling me that she had just lost her business, which was oilfield-related, and now she was afraid of losing her house.

And I wondered, God, is this it? Is this why? Because I know that pain in my life? I could empathize with her because we both had struggled through similar experiences. It cost me so little to just say, "Hey, I'm praying because a friend asked me to pray. I will pause my day and ask God to move in your life. I don't know what that looks like. Honestly, I don't know what that looks like for someone in my congregation sometimes, let alone someone living a thousand miles away that I have never met. But I can pray."

Paul traveled through the area, speaking many words of encouragement. Paul hadn't always been an encourager; once, he had incited riots against the Christian community. Once, Pau had approved of the execution of Christians. But then God got a hold of him on the Road to Damascus; on the Road, Paul found God's love and encouragement even though he had done nothing to deserve it. Jesus called him into a life of discipleship instead of just being a fan of God.

Paul had done everything to disqualify himself from a life with God. But on the Damascus Road, with Paul's permission, God transformed Paul into the person he was intended to be to be in the first place. God placed inside of him a heart that naturally exuded encouragement, a heart that naturally wanted to build others up and pass on the gift that had been passed on to him.

One of the lies of Satan is that we don't deserve or that others don't deserve our encouragement because we don't measure up. However, Jesus Christ died on a cross for us. He took the first step so that we wouldn't have to, encouraged us when we didn't deserve it, and did it in abundance! But more than that, he has given us the same opportunity that he gave to Paul: the opportunity to be transformed.

My Christian heritage and beliefs tell me this: there is a work of transformation that God wants to do in Christians. It goes by several different descriptions, but I hold to the idea that we are being perfected in love. We are not perfect in performance, but can be perfect in our desire to love. This is the mark of Christ in you: that we will love.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Romans 1