Daily Devotional

Sin is so very deceitful. We need others to help us see it for what it is. I remind us  of what the writer to the Hebrews wrote:
 
. . . let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25).
 
Notice the word stimulate (Greek: paroxusmos). It means to provoke, stimulate, and prod one another. In fact, it is the same word used for a cattle prod—a handheld device used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them. Thus, we use the word “cowpoke” to speak of a cowboy’s job.

         Being a city boy through and through, I had never seen a cattle prod, so I asked a staff member to find one and bring it to my office. This contraption had twelve D-cell batteries, with two probes at the end and a trigger housing. I did the math: “Twelve one and a half volt batteries. It adds up to a mere eighteen volts. I can handle it.”

   I did the unimaginable for anybody with any horse sense. I placed a finger across the probes and pulled the trigger. Zap! I jumped what seemed like a foot off the ground and yelped like a hurt puppy. (Okay, let me tell the truth. My feet stayed on  the ground and I squealed like a little girl!).

Little did I know the stock prod had a capacitor in it. Thousands of volts shot through my body. Fortunately, there were very few amps of electrical current or I wouldn’t be around to write about it. All I know is this—I was “stimulated.”

     That is exactly what Hebrews 10:24 says we are to do with one another. We are to stick a cattle prod into each other and spur one another on to love and good deeds, even if it takes thousands of volts to get each other’s attention. Zap!