Fellowship: Friction
There are many people who opt out of fellowship these days. Some of our massive churches allow people to be anonymous and this is seen as a good thing!!! People hide behind their walls, electric fences, and intercomms not allowing others near. Now after Covid, many are not finding their way to back to face to face services. While online services have become a great way for those who can't get to physical services to continue in worship and teaching, there are many have fallen into the habit of not attending. Some argue that they do not need others and they claim to be able to believe in God on their own.The Bible does not know about "lone-ranger" Christians. If we want to grow, we must share our faith experience with fellow believers. This is never easy. When iron sharpens iron the sparks may fly and heat may be generated. When iron sharpens iron there are rough edges that must be honed to form a sharp blade. When iron sharpens iron, there is shaping and filing to produce an attractive or useful product.
When we meet with other Christians, some may rub us up the wrong way, some may trample our favourite corns, and some may miss the point. This should not detract from the fact that we are all just parts in the bigger body or like stones in a wall. If we work at learning to care for and share then our interactions with Christians will be a very important part of society.
If the world will see that we are His disciples by our love for one another, then we need to practise somewhere. The social bits of church attendance, the inane small talk, putting up with someone's off-key singing, volunteering for tea duty to serving on an outreach team are all ways in which we hone our skills to love others and show the world that we are disciples of Jesus.
| As iron sharpens iron, one person sharpens another. (Proverbs27:17) |
