Needs of People - Life Together ©

Needs of People - Life Together

• Originally Posted by Mercedes on August 11, 2009 at 11:56pm on GaitherCommunity.com God's Word tells us to "cast our cares on the Lord and He will sustain us; He will never let the righteous fall". (Psalm 55:22) And He tells us to "present our requests to God". (Philippians 4:6) We aren't supposed to fix ourselves. We aren't supposed to worry and fret; we are supposed to cast our cares and burdens on God. When we do what His Word tells us to do, we can then experience real fellowship and sympathy; sympathy is not giving advice or offering quick, cosmetic help - sympathy is entering in and sharing the pain of others. Sympathy says, "I understand what you're going through, and what you feel is neither strange nor crazy." As Christian people, we are expected to be sympathetic, kind, humble, gentle and patient." (Colossians 3:12) Sympathy meets two fundamental human needs; the need to be understood, and the need to have our feelings validated. Every time you understand and affirm someone's feelings, you build fellowship. The problem is that we are often in such a hurry to fix things that we don't have time to "sympathize" with people.........we're preoccupied with our own hurts. There are different levels of fellowship or life together, and each is appropriate at different times: a) The simplest level is fellowship of sharing and studying God's Word together. b) A deeper level is the fellowship of serving, as when we minister together on mission trips, etc. c) The deepest, most intense level, is the fellowship of suffering. This is where we enter into each other's pain and grief and carry each other's burdens. Christians who understand this level best are those around the world who are being persecuted, despised and possibly martyred for their faith. The Bible teaches us to "share each other's troubles and problems, and in this way we obey the law of Christ". How wonderful it is for God's people to live together in harmony! God intends for us to experience life together......in the Bible it's called "Fellowship". (Although today we usually refer to fellowship as socializing, food and fun.) Real fellowship is experiencing life together. It includes unselfish loving, honest sharing, serving, sacrificial giving, sympathetic comforting, and all the other "one another" commands found in the New Testament. Another important factor in sharing - smaller is better. If a group is larger than about 10 people, you lose some of the effectiveness. In Christian fellowship people should experience authenticity; i.e. not superficial, surface-level-chit-chat. It's genuine, heart-to-heart, sometimes gut-level sharing. It happens when people get honest about who they are and what is happening in their lives. They share their hurts, reveal their feelings, confess their failures, talk about their doubts, admit their fears, acknowledge their weaknesses, and ask for help and prayer. Authenticity is not found in many church groups.......instead of honesty and humility, there are pretending, politicking, superficial politeness and shallow conversation. People wear masks, keep their guard up, and act as if everything is rosy in their lives. These are the attitudes that kill real friendship. It's only when we become open about our lives that we experience authentic fellowship. "If any of us say we have no sin, we are fooling ourselves." (1John 1:7-8) Of course, being authentic requires both courage and humility. It means facing our fear of exposure, rejection, and being hurt again. Why would anyone take such a risk? Because it's the only way to grow spiritually and be emotionally healthy. The Bible says, "Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed." (James 5:16) Share