Sitting ducks.
This weekend we will go one step further in our series, SPEAK, to answer the question, “Does God still speak today?” How we answer that question this week will involve listening to other Christians.
But isn’t faith simply a matter of private belief in Jesus as my personal Savior? Don’t we believe the insight of George Carlin in what he called the 11th commandment: “Thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself?”
Jesus as our personal Savior from sin is important and absolutely necessary. But a Christian in seclusion from other Christians is a sitting duck…for a lot of reasons.
Here are five reasons why it is important to have other Christ-followers in your life speaking God’s wisdom, God’s insight, God’s comfort, and God’s forgiveness into the niches of your mind and heart:
Blindspots: As intelligent as any of us may be, sin causes a fatal blindspot in our thinking that must be balanced out with good, godly counsel from fellow believers in Jesus.
Impact: Most Christians know the facts about God’s love for us, God’s forgiveness, etc. But when we try and tell ourselves those truths at critical moments, our words to ourselves feel more like limp, wet noodles than a sure foundation. We need other Christians to tell us the same thing that we already know. It actually makes more of an impact in our heart and mind.
Confession: We need other Christians to whom we can confess our sins. Why? God says, “confess your sins to one another.” (James 5:16). And 1 John 1 says that it unites us when we are transparent and vulnerable, and in those moments of confession, we also receive reassurance from other believers that we are forgiven.
Community: Sometimes you just need to know and experience that you are not in this battle alone; and trust me, it is a battle (Ephesians 6:10-17).
Prayer: God has assigned each of us the task to pray for one another (James 5:16 and Ephesians 6:18). There will be huge obstacles that God will remove because of your prayer for another believer. Others are praying for you as well, and there are certainly days when you know you need lots of help. Prayer is such a catalyst for help.