14 And we exhort you, brothers and sisters: warn those who are idle,[b] comfort the discouraged, help the weak, be patient with everyone. 15 See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all. (1 Thessalonians 5:14-15 CSB)
This bit of scripture is a recipe for dealing with others. Both those inside the faith and outside. Take a moment to consider our interactions and our responses. Inventory of how often we exhort, warn, comfort, help and are patient with others.
It is not easy. People throw a lot at us. Life throws a lot at us. But we can make a point to always pursue what is good for one another and for all. In doing so opportunities will arise where we can do for others what is needed to build them up. You can never know when someone is just searching for a comforting word.
The world has enough evil and we need not add to that. We may feel that the word evil is extreme. However, anything not of God is evil in His eyes. We simply want to sugar coat the evil we are capable of in soft words that comfort our sensibilities. We want to see our responses as justified in some way that often they are not.
We should continually take a close look at our actions toward others to make sure that we are doing our best to live out this scripture. Is what motivates us the desire to build others up or simply to build ourselves up.
