Consistency is Key
Updated: 15 hours ago
by David Rollert
Few healthy things in life are “one-and-done.” Consistency is needed in nearly everything! Do you want to have healthy teeth? You cannot just brush them occasionally. You must brush and floss every day, twice a day, for the rest of your life. Do you want to have a healthy relationship with your spouse? You cannot just put effort in randomly. You must put effort into your marriage day-in and day-out for the rest of your life.
Similarly, if you want to have a healthy spiritual life, you cannot fellowship with the saints once-in-a-while. You must fellowship with them multiple times a per week, for the rest of your life. Consistency is key!
This is where things get hard. Life is busy and consistency can be tedious. People start with good intentions. They plan to study their Bible daily and attend both worship services on Sunday and Wednesday evening Bible class. But, then there are a couple weeks where they are recovering from an injury, or work demands overtime, or they have family visiting. In those busy weeks, Bible study and attendance slide down their priority list. Pretty soon, they find that it has been months since they have studied their Bible. In that time, they may have attended one worship service. They no longer spend time with their fellow Christians. In short, without intending to, they start falling away. But is this really a big deal?
The Hebrew writer has a very firm word on this: “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” (Heb. 3:12). Is that truly what we’re seeing in this situation - an evil, unbelieving heart?
Yes. Because faithfulness is never accidental. Staying faithful takes care and effort. It is an intentional decision. Want to avoid falling away? The next verse tells us how; “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today,’ so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” (Heb. 3:13). We are told to encourage one another. It says to encourage one another day after day, not once a month or occasionally. That means that we should consistently strive to encourage our fellow Christians.
At this point, someone inevitably says, “Well others are not encouraging me daily, so I am going to withdraw from them and sulk.” I understand that feeling, but look at the text again. It does not say, “Wait for others to encourage you.” It says, Encourage one another.” That means that each of us bears the responsibility to go out of our way to encourage others on a consistent basis.
So, here is the challenge for each of us. Ask yourself, “What have I done to encourage a fellow Christian this week?” Determine that each day this coming week you will do at least one thing to encourage a fellow Christian. I guarantee you the effort will be rewarding.
Looking for more?
Things that Steal Joy vs. Things that Promote Joy is an ongoing series of 2-part lessons contrasting common habits which slowly erode joy and endurance with biblical alternatives that drastically increase them.
How do we overcome the temptation to let involvement with the church slip to the back burner? This 2-part lesson on the importance of involvement compares the results of Isolationism with the results of Consistent Fellowship. We are encouraged to make informed, intentional decisions about our habits with the end goal in mind.
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