PRAISE & PRAYER PROMPT ••• In Ecclesiastes 4:11, it says, “Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone?” (ESV). After all, its freezing outside. It’s much easier to warm up when you can put your cold feet on someone else’s legs!
Just kidding. Sort of.
This is one of a series of verses that speaks of companionship (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12). They speak of our need for others; the importance of relationships. And that’s been a truth as old as time, when God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18a ESV). God’s words are often applied to marriage but it goes beyond that. After all, Paul wasn’t married, but he enjoyed the fellowship and support of fellow believers.
The bottom line—we need community. It’s becoming increasingly popular for people to seek their faith on their own rather than in a church. I can’t argue that it’s not tempting when you are looking for a church home. Walking into a strange place where everyone else seems to be best friends is intimidating.
It’s been almost three years since my husband and I joined our church and walking through those doors that first Sunday was terrifying. And then confusing. And then embarrassing. Because we accidentally walked into the Chinese church sanctuary that is adjacent to our church. To their credit, they didn’t question us when they handed us the bulletin written in Chinese. But I think there was a glint of amusement in their eyes when we sheepishly handed them back and mumbled that we seemed to be in the wrong place.
Well, not the wrong place. Just not the place where we were going to be able to effectively worship since we don’t speak Chinese.
Thankfully, we found the sanctuary we were looking for and in doing so, we found our sanctuary of Christian community. This has been so clearly evident to me in the last few weeks. During a call with my sister-in-law this week, it hit me how warm my heart is because of this network of Christian fellowship. We are so blessed by our church family. (We love you, Ardmore Baptist!)
We need our brothers and sisters-in-Christ. They are our prayer partners and teachers. They are essential to our lives not only for the friendship and encouragement but to challenge us to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ—which is, of course, the most important of our relationships.
Today, as you pray, thank God for knowing how important relationships would be for us. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you be actively engaged in your own community of believers knowing that together, you be stronger and grow in your faith.
