Hebrews 10: 23-25 states “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.”
God’s Word tells us how important it is for us all to stay faithful to Him and one another if we intend to keep the two greatest commandments to “love God and love people”. While few Christians I know would dispute this, it seems to me that there is a breakdown between what we say we believe and how we live. If we truly love God and people, there must be the “ministry of presence” where we actually show up to do these things and not just talk about them. Talk is cheap! We have precious little time according to scripture to use our lives to bless God and people by being there for Him and one another. We have to show up! If we truly want to worship God in Spirit and Truth, we must do it His way. This means being there with the body of Christ and participating with them in honoring our God. If we want to be a help to others by encouraging them and promoting good deeds, we must be in relationship with others beyond a “Facebook like”. We need each other by God’s design. Many a person I have met has little time for relationships when all is going their way, but when the bottom drops out in their life, they complain that “no one is there for them”. This is a problem of our own creation if we are not faithful to participate weekly in our church body and to give prayer and help to one another as we are called to. Social media is no replacement for actual time with someone in prayer, fellowship and ministry together. We need the actual physical presence of each other or we shall certainly drift off from our confession of hope and be found to have failed in our purpose in God saving us, namely, to be a people of His own use. Let us all commit ourselves to living life God’s way and not by self-rule or what the failed culture around us tells us.
Pastor Gary Houdek