I walked to my car with mixed emotions. It was a Sunday morning after church services nearly forty years ago, and the transition into an Anabaptist church was not going smoothly. Varied receptions from the people, a number of totally new Bible teachings and applications, and a way of life that was significantly different from what I was used to presented some awkward and puzzling dilemmas. 

Noticing a package on the front passenger seat of my car, I opened it and discovered a fresh loaf of homemade bread and a kind note of encouragement from one of the elderly sisters in the congregation. That simple gesture has remained clear in my memory through the years as a reminder of how much one thoughtful act can encourage and spiritually strengthen a person. 

Later that year a young brother in the same congregation kindly corrected me for using a slang expression that, unknown to me, was actually a veiled oath. While his admonition was not as pleasant to receive as that loaf of bread, the intent and result of both were to strengthen me in my spiritual journey. We all occasionally need encouragement, but sometimes we also need rebuke, correction, and reproof. Jesus warned Peter, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” Then, after advising Peter that He was praying for him, Jesus told him to “strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:31-32). 

A godly example, prayer, words of encouragement and appreciation, and simple acts of kindness are some of the tools we can readily use to strengthen Christian brothers and sisters. Let us each make it a personal goal to strengthen the brethren at every opportunity. 

But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the
deceitfulness of sin. Hebrews 3:13

~ Pete Lewis