Cheering On Tired Runners
Month 12: Sent & Standing Firm · Loving Others
Today's Scripture
Read together: Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds. 25 Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Memory Verse
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”— 2 Timothy 4:7 (BSB)
📖 Bible-in-a-Year (optional)
Today's reading: Ezekiel 34-36
Reading the whole Bible in a year — do this when you have extra time. (Around Day 336 of 365 — God promises to be the Good Shepherd who gathers His scattered sheep and gives them a new heart.)The Heart of It
All week we've talked about finishing the race. But here's a secret about races. Hardly anyone finishes a hard one alone. Think of a marathon. Along the route, people stand on the sidewalks. They cheer. They hold up signs. They hand out water. That cheering is fuel. It's the difference between a tired runner quitting and a tired runner pushing through. Hebrews says God designed His family to work the same way. "Let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds, not neglecting meeting together... but encouraging one another" (). To encourage someone means to come alongside and cheer them on. You say, "You can do this. Keep going. God is with you."
This is why God doesn't want us trying to follow Jesus all alone. We need other believers, and they need us. That's a big part of what church is for. We don't just sit and listen. We encourage each other, so nobody drops out of the race discouraged. And here's the joyful part. You can be a cheerleader too, even as a kid. You can write a note to a friend who's sad. You can pray for someone going through a hard time. You can remind your tired brother or sister of something true about God. When you cheer on other runners, you help them finish. And that is one of the most loving things a disciple can do.
Around the Table
When someone is tired or sad, we can cheer them on. We can say, "You can do it! God loves you!"
Let's do it: Practice your best cheer right now for someone in the family who had a hard day.
Hebrews says to "stir up" each other to love and good works and not give up meeting together. We're meant to help each other keep going.
Let's talk: Who do you know that might need some encouragement this week? What could you say or do?
"Not neglecting meeting together" ties perseverance to community. A Christian who is all alone is easier to discourage. We finish the race together, encouraging one another.
Let's go deeper: Why do you think it's so much harder to keep the faith all alone?
💬 Conversation Starter
When has someone's encouragement helped you not give up? What exactly did they say or do? Now think about this. Who could YOU do that for?
🛡️ Defending the Faith
A loving, encouraging church family is itself an argument for the faith. Jesus said people would know His followers by their love (). When the world sees believers truly carrying and cheering one another on, it sees something hard to fake. Your kindness can open a door for the hope you carry ().
For Dad · Go Deeper
The drift away from gathered worship rarely begins with a decision to abandon Christ. It begins with the soft, reasonable-sounding logic of "we can worship God anywhere." Hebrews names this danger and prescribes the opposite. We need deliberate, regular, mutual encouragement in the gathered body. Perseverance is a team effort. For a father, this has two edges. First, model it. Let your kids see that you commit to the local church not as a consumer shopping for the best service, but as a runner who needs and gives encouragement, even on the weeks you'd rather sleep in. Second, cultivate it at home. Your dinner table can be the first place your children learn to spur one another on to love and good deeds, to celebrate a sibling's obedience, to pray for one another's struggles. The family that learns to cheer raises children who become encouragers in the church for life.
Draws on: Sam Storms, Practicing the Power; and the "one another" ecclesiology of Hebrews.
Let's Pray Together
"Father, thank You for not making us run alone. Make our family encouragers who cheer others on. Help us love Your church. Help us never give up meeting together. And help us spur on love and good deeds in everyone around us. In Jesus' name, amen."
Nobody finishes a hard race alone. So I'll cheer on the tired runners around me.