We all get discouraged. Some of us more than others, but regardless it happens to all of us. It happens when people you love hurt you. It happens when people you are close with don't do what they should. And it happens when we blow it ourselves.
But do you know what encourages me every time? .....God's grace.
I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge - even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you - so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
This was written to the church at Corinth. Yes, the same church that turned the Lord's Supper into a gluttonous party, didn't support Paul financially, divided over who they followed, had unresolved open immorality in the body, sued one another in the secular courts.
That church. Hopefully we don't start patting ourselves on the back right now, because even if your problems aren't as glaring as theirs when we are honest with ourselves we know we fail to measure up to God's standard as well.
And thankfully we don't have to measure up, because Christ already took our place and punishment!
Go back and re-read vss. 4-9. Marvel at God's grace. You are not lacking.
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