Exhortation? Really?

I am sorry that I haven't written since Sunday.  I have been working -- contemplating about things and mulling them over -- and thinking about you.  What should I write to you?  What do I feel I NEED to tell you?  Then I realized: just do what you said you were going to do.

So with that, I went and rated my responses to the questions in the survey we received.  In all transparency, I did go online to our church website and completed it there - where it did all the organizing and math for me.  I was surprised by my results.  Like I said before, it focused in 16 different gift areas.  I had a slight, opinion, about what my number one was going to be.  And boy, was I wrong!  My "opinion" came in at a five-way tie for THIRD!  What I always thought was my greatest gift, teaching, was tied with other things for third.  That meant I was really better at (or could be overcoming fear) two other things.  Right now I'm focusing on what was my top fit -- exhortation.

Really?  Exhortation, God?  You do know that means TALKING to other people, right?  But I was reminded that others hadn't been all that comfortable speaking before others, too.  Also, "talking" to others didn't have to mean actually speaking.  What?

Alright, so what DOES exhortation mean?  According to Dictionary.com, it is a noun - yeah, knew that.  Meaning 1 is the act or process of exhorting - yeah, no help.  So, meaning 2 is an utterance, discourse, or address conveying urgent advice or recommendations - yeah, better but still.  Further down the page, though, was the British dictionary's definition.  Its second definition is a speech or written passage intended to persuade, inspire, or encourage.  BINGO!  Now that one makes sense!  A written passage intended to persuade, inspire, or encourage I can do!  And I noted the continuation of the theme: writing.

For about two years now, I have been using a personal vision statement; a life purpose.  "My life purpose is empowerment - of myself and others."  In light of that, really, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to me that my top gift was suggested to be exhortation.  I had kind of known it already but didn't put a name to it.  "How" is still a little shifting but I know it has to do with writing and this blog.

There were some suggested Bible references about the gift of exhortation.  I liked the one Paul wrote in the letter to the Hebrews.   It says: "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deed, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV)  It's in a section where Paul is writing a comparison about the body of a human and the body of The Church.  Like each part of the human body has a different purpose (liver, lung, hand, foot), the people who follow Jesus each have a different purpose, too.  Some work together rather closely but each are still individual.  The verses talk about lifting each other up to their own purpose through Jesus.  I feel encouraged to press forward and step up.  I am made to use my "voice" - in whatever form it takes - to encourage others and inspire where I can.