Written April 17, 2016
When I was early in my working career, I had a check book (much before the rise of debit cards). The problem was I was not very good at making sure the amount of what I spent was less than the amount of money actually in the account. For some reason, my brother-in-law was chosen to “take control” of my account and get me back in the black fiscally speaking. I was obviously no good at managing my account without someone holding me accountable. (I will say, I’ve improved in that area over the years).
In the last few weeks I’ve had numerous conversations with friends from every background about an area of their life that needed God’s intervention — relationships, budgets, controlling habits, or even just future direction.
If there is anyone who appreciates the way God made the Church, it’s me at this stage of my life. I’m now in that “widow and orphan” category that brings out the best of the Body of Christ with thoughtful deeds of love and care. But I think that we as the Church, have forgotten that we have a daily charge from Christ to keep each other accountable in the Journey of Faith.
And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone (1 Thessalonians 5:14).
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts (Colossians 3:16) .
I love these two verses, as we are reminded that we just don’t “tell someone what to do” but we encourage, help, remain patient as we admonish, not with our own wisdom, but with the wisdom of the psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit. We need each others followers of Christ. Walking this journey of life without companionship is a struggle. Christ blesses us by allowing us to find brothers and sisters who have been down that road before us, and can encourage us to stay the course.
If you’re looking for purpose in life, call up someone in the church family that you’ve seen but do not know well–eat a meal with them, get to know them, pray for them. You’ll be amazed at the renewed vision and purpose becoming truly connected in the Body can bring. None of us, as believers in Christ, are exempt from encouraging others in the Body. Try it and you might be surprised how God encourages you!
Grace and Peace