Day 33: Redemptively Roped In

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm? And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken. Ecclesiastes 4:9–12

I can’t shake this conviction that’s been loitering in my soul for a while now: far too many of my friends, and friends of friends have lost their joy and all but lost their faith in Jesus. Many have shared with me how they’ve completely stopped going to church or Bible study or even hanging out with other believers. Usually because the deepest wound they’re nursing was inflicted by a professing Christian or religious institution. Or because they’ve simply lost the energy and will to put on a happy face and pretend, which has been the sum total of their previous experience in communities of faith.

Surely our God weeps over the gaping holes in the fabric of His covenant family. We weren’t created to be wincing, jaded isolationists. There’s no such thing as successful Lone-Ranger-Christian living. We were created in God’s image, in the image of the only Triune Creator-Redeemer who exists in perfect relational harmony with Himself as Father, Son, and Spirit (“Let us make man in our image” Gen. 1:26, emphasis mine). Which essentially means, we’re hard-wired for relationship—for the sacrament of communing with others.

If you’re in a disillusioned, despairing kind of lonely season, I strongly encourage you not to limp into a corner with your back to the bride of Christ. Instead find a motley crew of passionate—albeit flawed—Christ-followers to assist you as you hobble toward healing. Find two or three sweet-spirited saints who will commit to pray with you and for you on a regular face-to-face basis. Take comfort in the fact that you can hurl all the sad, angry, and disappointed words you’ve been saving up toward the heavens because God is perfectly safe to share them with.

And finally, recruit someone who’s walked closely with Jesus longer than you have to help tutor you in the subject of keeping in step with the Holy Spirit. Someone who will be both wildly and graciously for you as well as completely and redemptively honest with you. Someone who’ll actually speak up when you cross the line from legitimate grief-bearing to illegitimate victimhood-mentality. Lean in even when it’s hard, lest you lose what’s actually worth living for.

• Who are the other spiritual musketeers you trust enough to ride alongside this season?
• What usually triggers you to pull away from community?
• How can you anticipate this trigger and fight it well?