Have you ever watched toddlers try to play together? Most of the time they’re saying things like, “Hey! That’s mine!” Or “I wanted to play with that!” For the most part, they’re playing beside each other with little problem-solving skills or creativity that incorporates both children effectively without complaint. But, when kids hit the age of about 6 or 7, something seems to shift. Watch these kids on the playground and they’re saying things like: “Want to be my friend?” They’re at the age where their creativity gives each child a place in the game and they find it more fun to play together than to play by themselves, their own way (usually).
As adults, we can tend to be more like toddlers than young children. We want to do everything for ourselves because we’ve bought into the lie that we don’t need other people. We can face our problems by ourselves because we don’t need to burden others. We can handle anything life throws our way because we’re adults who know what we’re doing all of the time, right? We may be able to do life on our own, but we’ll make a mess of our lives and miss out on the joy of doing life together. Just like the playground is more fun with a friend by your side, life is more full with fellow believers by our sides.
When we drift away from our community, we’re more susceptible to believing lies that keep us away. We believe that they didn’t really like us or want us around anyways. We believe that we’re too busy. We believe that we’re too different from our community to have a place. We believe that we’re too broken for our community to handle. Whatever the lie, Satan will plant the one that is most believable to you to keep you isolated. The more isolated we are, the more we fall into these lies about ourselves, Christ, truth, or other believers. The more we believe lies, the more we drift away from Christ.
Reflection/Discussion Question: What lies have you believed that have kept you away from community and/or church?
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