Speaker: Darlene Sala | Series: Encouraging Words | Years ago I noticed that a preacher had chosen as his sermon topic “God’s Salad Bowl.”  When I saw the title, I wondered what on earth he was going to talk about.  But when I listened to his sermon, I found out. He spoke about the many times the phrase “let us” is used in the New Testament—such as, “Let us stop passing judgment on one another” (Romans 14:13) and “Let us be alert and self-controlled” (1 Thessalonians 5:6).

The topic is corny and simplistic to us today, but the content is relevant. I counted 31 times in the New Testament that we’re told to do something beginnng with the words, “Let us….”

There’s not time to mention all 31, but in one book of the Bible, you’ll find the phrase occurs five times in four verses.  In Hebrews 10, here’s what the verses say, “let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith….  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess….  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together,,,but let us encourage one another” (Hebrews 10:22-25).

The writer of Hebrews doesn’t say, “Now, all of you out there, here’s what I want you to do: draw near to God, hold to hope, spur your neighbor to good deeds, and so forth. No, he includes himself in what he is teaching—”Let us” do these things, he says.

I believe we’d be more effective in getting other people to do what they should be doing if we took a gentler approach. If you want members of your family to make changes, be willing yourself to make the changes as well. If you want your employees at work to arrive on time, make sure you’re never late.

“Let us not become weary in doing good” (Galatians 6:9)—that means all of us. After all, we’re in this together.