Positive Faith in Scripture: Upbuildings

“God didn’t set us up for an angry rejection but for salvation by our Master, Jesus Christ. He died for us, a death that triggered life. Whether we’re awake with the living or asleep with the dead, we’re alive with him! So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you’ll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you’re already doing this; just keep on doing it.”

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11, Message

Here we see similar language to yesterday: a life of faith is actually about “life.” Insanity! It’s hard to imagine, in our culture, that God actually wants us to live a full life. More often we’re left with the idea that we need to hide who we really are because, if we’re found out, we’ll be excluded from the group. So, instead, we spend so much time managing appearances so we can appear as good (if not better) than the next person in line.

But this is no way to live! It’s not life- it’s prison. Imagine a faith community where people are encouraged, affirmed, built up, together. Brothers and sisters in arms. It’s hard to imagine- we don’t see enough of this.

This isn’t some hippy modern idea either- as the passage above shows, it’s quite literally 1st century stuff. Positive faith isn’t new- it’s biblical.

Maybe we do need to go back to the good old days- the days where we recognized and acknowledged the good in each other and attempted to build it up.