For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. (1 Corinthians 12:12, ESV)
The saying “It takes a village to raise a child,” lends me to think it takes a similar village, in a sense, to raise a professional golfer. While it is an individual sport, the very best assemble a support team-trainers, swing coaches, mental performance coaches, caddies, nutritionists, doctors, friends, and mentors. What appears as individual success is often a reflection of the network of people helping a winner reach their dreams. We hear about it in their speeches! I think we all would be appalled at the person who stood up and said, “I want to thank myself and myself alone; I couldn’t have done this without me.”
A good family member is eager to listen, rejoice, comfort, pray, and also to speak the truth in love.We all need a support team around us to thrive. God did not make us to operate as solo acts. There was a reason he didn’t leave Adam alone in the garden. Marriage isn’t the ultimate question here—God calls some to marriage and others to singleness, but we were all designed to be in fellowship with one another. A good place to start is by plugging in to a local church. The church gives Christians a place not only to worship together, hear the Word preached, and take communion, but to share life and walk closely with fellow Christ-followers.
For the majority who do not grow up in Christian homes, following Jesus means leaving behind a way of life and often many friends, but praise God that Jesus said, “There is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands” (Mark 10:29-30). God promises to bless us with a new family: his own.
Fellowship with God’s people is one of life’s sweetest joys. Having older and younger men and women in the faith alongside us lets us learn from and encourage one another. We get to be little daily pointers back to Christ for one another. A good family member is eager to listen, rejoice, comfort, pray, and also to speak the truth in love. Heartbreaks come with being in God’s family too, but there is a common thread of being in Christ that unites us and gives us the ability to practice repentance and forgiveness.
The best news of all is that there is a fellowship we always have, regardless of where we are. It is with our perfect God. We do not ever lose fellowship with our heavenly Father. Jesus experienced separation from the Father on the cross so that we never have to. Praise be to God! There is a great joy in my heart when I remember that I have all I need in Jesus. He is my everything and I never have to go a day without God’s perfect, steadfast love. Amen.
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Aimee Neff
November 15, 2018
Copyright 2018 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.