https://odb.org/MY/2022/12/09/lighten-the-load-2
A church is always a community, a gathering of believers for a common purpose. We don’t just meet for two hours on Sundays, but our lives are intertwined spiritually and socially. When we are in a church, we are part of God’s purposes for our lives as well as His purposes for the lives of our brothers and sisters in that church. We have a spiritual destiny together. A spiritual direction dictated by the Holy Spirit and cascaded down to the pastor and leadership of the church. We seek to do God’s will for our church to align with God’s move amongst us. Spiritually, we must move together as a church. In this respect, my local church’s move for all cell groups to use the same book for study is a good move to drive everyone towards the same direction.
That is why Paul teaches in Galatians 6:1-10 that if someone sins, we should correct that person gently, and he goes on to say that we should carry each other’s burdens. We know that any group or community can progress only as fast and as far as its weakest link. Thus, in order to bring a community of believers forward, we need to make sure no one is left behind. We must move together. Thus, we must always carry each other’s burdens. We are ultimately personally responsible and accountable to God on our own, and yet we are obliged to help each other in our quest for spiritual maturity in Christ. We can’t say to Christ that we didn’t help that brother because he was personally responsible and accountable to Him! Instead, our obligation and responsibility is to say, he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother!
As a believer, it is never a solo quest to reach our finish line. We must always interact with others. We must always be part of a community to help, encourage, and strengthen each other. Our faith is never something only inside us but must be an expression of the goodness and glory of God. The river of living waters flowing within us must flow out to touch the community of believers in our church and the people amongst us – our family, friends, and colleagues. Make it our mission to touch someone’s life today and each day forward!
Ronnie's Thoughts 