A men’s event where men take turns
in sharing their honest weaknesses is a reminder of the power of community to
break the isolation of loneliness. Many men, as with many women also, face
spiralling desperation in these matters without fellowship.
To hear of one man’s battle, that
which once overwhelmed him, but of which now Jesus has helped him overcome, is
a great encouragement to all men there.
There are many more advantages of
community than correcting the isolation many of us feel, but how it attends to
isolation is marvellous.
The Guilt and Shame In Sin – Crushed In
Truth Through Community
Satan will try and make us believe
we are worthless, and he will use our weaknesses against us. Our sin is his
weapon for making us feel guilty and ashamed. None of us are beyond feeling
condemned from time to time. We forget that, in Jesus, we have been freed. When
we are saved we ought to never again feel irredeemably condemned.
This is where community comes in.
It emasculates ideas for isolation. It has a better idea.
In community, whether that be
one-on-one or a large group or all collections between, we are brought before
the truth; usually as it manifests in others’ lives, when we hear them testify.
The truth: we are
all weak, but we are strong in Christ—and never more so than when we are
together.
Through others sharing their
stories we find we are not alone in our struggles. We find our struggles are
much more common than we recently thought. It is so easy to forget how much in common
we have with our peers. We have more similarities than differences so far as
our sinfulness and brokenness is concerned.
When we understand this truth,
afresh, our loneliness tends to vanish.
Our sense for community breaks the
bonds that our dangerously imaginative minds, when alone, have procured. In the
community of a brotherhood or sisterhood we come to understand that the truth, arranged
communally, sets us free.
No wonder that the best cultures
through the history of humankind have a strong identity for affiliation. Where
a culture values a significant sense for community, that culture will be strong
for each other. Individuals are hence safer and stronger as a result.
***
A good solution for loneliness is
the company of loving, accepting others. As we spend time with others in their
weakness we don’t feel so alone in ours. The more honest we can be before
others about truths in our lives the better we will feel.
© 2012 S. J. Wickham.
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