One of my happiest memories is sitting on our sofa when my daughter was a toddler watching Disney’s JUNGLE BOOK and singing along to the SIMPLE BARE NECESSITIES OF LIFE song.

I wonder what you think the bare necessities of life are?

The Daily Mail newspaper in the UK asked it’s readers that question. Here are there top 20 answers

1.Internet connection 2. Television 3. A cuddle 4. A trustworthy best friend 5. Daily shower 6. Central heating 7. Cup of tea 8. An “I love you” every now and then 9. A solid marriage 10. Car 11. Spectacles 12. Coffee 13. Chocolate 14. Night in on the sofa 15. Glass of wine 16. A good cry every now and then 17. A full English breakfast 18. A foreign holiday once a year 19. iPhone 20. A pint

I suspect if you asked someone in the two thirds world their answer might be radically different. Probably, food, water and shelter?

In the book of Hebrews the writer tells us what they consider to be a daily necessity of life. It may surprise you.

But encourage one another daily Hebrews 3:13

Gods Word in those couple of words reminds us in that as much as we may need food and water each day to maintain our physical health, we also need encouragement each day to stay emotionally and spiritually healthy.

What we need to remember is that this call, no this command, to encourage others was written specifically to a church. Can you see the implications of that?

God’s word envisages the church being a community of encouragement.

Generally we don’t need to seek out discouragement. I don’t know about you but I find discouragement finds me. Discouragement is the homing pigeon of the emotions. In little and small ways discouragement comes to us and begins to build up in our souls like a poison in our blood.

God’s antidote to the emotional poison of discouragement is us, the church. A community in which, each day, purposefully and specifically, Christians think about who needs encouragement and who they can encourage.

Let me just state something blatantly obvious,

You can’t be encouraged

if you are not connected

We all need encouragement but we can only receive that encouragement if we are connected to others in community beyond an hour and a bit on Sundays. Remember we are to encourage one another DAILY not weekly. This is why things like LIFE GROUPS are so vital.

I want to end by asking you a question I think this verse unavoidably confronts everyone of us with

WHO WILL YOU ENCOURAGE TODAY?