Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10: 23-25
Another key element in remaining spiritually healthy is in regularly assembling together with other believers. God has designed us to be in a community of believers. In the natural, when people isolate themselves, they begin to get depressed and develop all kinds of wrong ideas about life and others. Similarly, as Christians we are designed to be part of a community of believers to remain healthy spiritually and avoid deception. The Lord did not design us to do our spiritual walk alone. We were never intended to be lone rangers in the Kingdom of God.
Ironically, as Christians we yearn to reach the lost and tell them how Jesus can change their lives and their relationships, but at the same time we can have major issues with some people in the church. We cannot isolate our ministry from our relationships. Our lives need to be integrated to the level that we don’t have the “good compartment” and the “not so good compartment” in our lives.
The above scripture tells us that the precursor in not forsaking the spiritual relationships is to stir up love and good works amongst ourselves. If we are able to do this, then we will have a healthy and pleasant atmosphere. If we neglect to stir up love and good works, our hearts begin to get hardened towards our brothers and sisters, and after a while we find ourselves avoiding certain people. When the avoidance continues for a period of time, it eventually leads us not to desire having fellowship with the “church people”.
The writer of book of Hebrews exhorts the believers in continually assembling together as the “Day is approaching”. The world will continue to grow darker as we move towards the end times. This should cause us to be more mindful of having the loving support of other believers to navigate and remain courageous through tough times. The scripture tells us that many will fall away from faith in the last days. Is it possible because they were isolated that they could not handle the persecution and the rejection of the world?
Paul likened the church to a body and described how every part, regardless of its visibility, contributes to the health of the entire body (See 1Corinthians 12:12-31). We can be very talented and anointed in certain areas, but we still need the community of believers to grow together, to fellowship, to serve, and to support each other. While Paul himself was a very gifted man, he always longed to be with the saints as he stated in many of his letters.
I will be the first to tell you that relationships in the church are not always easy. As a matter of fact, they can be very hurtful. However, I cannot create a theology based on my experience rather I want to experience what is theologically true according to the word of God. Let’s pray and ask the Lord to help us to be contributors of love and good works among believers and let God do His work to purify and mature us as the body of Christ!
