encourage remembering
"See to it brothers that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily." Writer to the Hebrews 3:12-13a. Our natural inclination is to turn away from the living God. As I read again the Old Testament we can see this sick pattern occurring over and over. (read Judges) The people got fat and happy and then forgot everything that God had done for them. It's so easy when things are well with our soul to forget. Even Jesus understood this about our nature, when during the first celebration of communion he told his followers to "do this in remembrance of me." What a great encouragement is the celebration of the death and resurrection of Jesus our Saviour. Maybe the Catholics have it in the place it belongs, at the center of every week is the mass and at the center of the mass is the Eucharist. Hebrews says to encourage each other daily, that is very hard when we are so extremely isolated from each other. We don't need deeper, intense, real, authentic community just for hanging out sake, but primarily for the encouragement to remember the Lord in our everyday lives.
posted by C.M. Coon at Tuesday, May 10, 2005
1 Comments:
The Lurker (craig, right?) said: "We don't need deeper, intense, real, authentic community just for hanging out sake, but primarily for the encouragement to remember the Lord in our everyday lives."
Amen to that, brother! So how does a group of people become that? I've been living in community for a few years and the increased contact with each other DOES remind me more often to turn to the Lord inside... and yet, even here, it's not just the turn of a switch.
I like the analogy from Fish Fly (Joey, right?) about breathing. Add to that: what if you and everyone you know had lived their whole lives by taking only one breath a day (because you were raised by men and women who also only knew that way of breathing, because they were raised by people.... )
How long does it take a people to UN-learn that old way of "breathing"? How long does it take for my "lungs" to expand and to grow-up into doing the exercise of "breathing" Jesus Christ all day long? (I don't mean in theory, but actual, spiritual reality!)
I think community (the safe, healthy kind) can indeed help draw us more often to the Lord, and I've given 9 years so far to living this out, but I can say I think we've STILL got a lot of growing to do!
Praise the Lord, he gives us time.
Btw, I found you guys because Fish Fly (Jeff?) posted on my blog a week ago. There seems to be a group of you guys in Michigan who blog back and forth, and I've enjoyed reading so far... mind if I visit some more?
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