Faith on a Roller Coaster
Genesis 2:18a: Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.”
We’re not meant to be alone. Too often we think that’s about dating and romantic relationships. I think it’s more about relationships in general and our need for community. There are 59 “one another” commands in the New Testament. These are the things like love one another, bear one anothers burdens, build up one another. 49 of those relate directly to life in the church.
The New Testament has no example of a lone ranger Christian. There is no such thing as a Christian on an island (except John on the island of Patmos but thats after they tried to boil him alive and it didn’t work).
The point is, community is critical to the life of a Christian. There’s that old saying: show me your closest friends and I’ll show you who you are. It might be cheesy but it’s true. Studies show that the people we are the closest to have a profound impact on our lives, everything from obesity to the amount of money we’ll make. So if this is true, think about who you’re rolling with.
Who You With?
I’ve noticed a theme amongst Christians recently: turbulent faith. Many, no, most of us are experiencing the ups and downs of life. Everybody is always going through something, that’s just a part of life. But there is some level of our turbulence that can be connected to a lack of community.
I know a lot of Christians who go to church but have no community and many more who have divorced themselves from a local church altogether. Listen, I understand the reasons for this are many but we were never meant to live this life alone. There is a reason in Hebrews 10:25 we are warned not to forsake the gathering. Time and time again, I see people falling away because trying to be a Christian on an island results in a slow descent off the spiritual cliff.
So who are you rolling with? Who can you get real with about your Christian life? I’m going to take a moment to single out men here: we’re not even on a slow descent, we are free falling off the cliff. Recent studies have shown, that the average middle aged man doesn’t have any close friends. No one he can talk to about the things he’s facing. No one to fight spiritual battles with. We internalize our problems and the expression of that, because nothing stays in forever, usually manifest in the form of some destructive sin.
When I think about community and being like the five people you spend the most time with, many of us between work, family, and old friends, are spending our time with people pulling us in the wrong direction. In addition to this, we are being discipled by the internet more than our Bibles. But I am reminded of the words of Psalm 1:1a: Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly (NKJV). Who is your counsel?
Life and Death
I don't want to be all melodramatic but I think this is one of those life or death issues. Proverbs 12:26 says: The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray (NIV).
Navigating this life is not easy and I imagine the roller coaster we find ourselves on is due to a lack of solid community. It’s not that people make our problems go away but they help guide us through. Wisdom, correction, and perspective is not often found within ourselves. When I’m going nuts and experiencing my existential dread, my friends in their 40s and 50s are always there to remind me the truths I need to hear. They call me back to Jesus in a way that I often cannot do for myself.
What will you do? Will you fight the good fight for your faith or will you take the slow descent into “oh yea I grew up a Christian but you know it’s not my thing anymore” or “I have a relationship with God, but it’s private and doesn’t really need to involve anyone else.
Community is necessary. I understand church hurt (one day, I’ll write about my own) but that doesn’t give us an excuse to disobey the commands of God. If your inner lawyer is working right now (as mine often does), remember that we will jump through whatever hoops we need to in order to justify our actions.
There is a group of us who have divorced ourselves from the Church because we have questions. Our faith has hit a place where we don’t know what we believe anymore. I want to encourage you to work those questions out with other believers. Questioning is good, God isn’t afraid of our questions, the enemy is. The Devil knows the answers are found in the truth of God and therefore wants us to search for those answers apart from him.
We know how important good community is for our emotional, financial, and physical health. How much more true is that for our spiritual health? Beloved, the war is real, and we are in a fight for our souls. Don’t let the enemy catch you slipping today.