Household of Faith

  I pray you have benefited as I have from Dan’s teaching on the “one another” passages of Scripture over the past Sunday evening’s Bible study times! We certainly do need each other of the “household of faith”. As a spiritual family we have our own individual personalities and preferences that could clash if it were not for the Spirit of God that unifies us without making us all uniform. The Holy Spirit produces a loving bond between each of us as brothers and sisters in Christ that makes church life enjoyable and enduring. That is why coming together each week, and multiple times in a week, is not a chore but filled with joyful anticipation. The preaching of God’s Word, praising of God for His goodness, praying to God for other’s needs, and sharing what God has given and done for us in abundance should bring a smile to our face and delight to our souls.

  So, it is our privilege to come along side other believers who are overburdened with the cares of this life and help in lifting the load (Galatians 6:2). This often takes the form of praying one for another (James 5:16), or to “by love serve one another” as we look out for each other’s needs above our own needs (Gal. 5:13-14). Also, it is our duty to “speak the truth in love” in order to help each other to be built up in the faith (Ephesians 4:11-16). To ensure that we are all moving in the right direction and walking in truth, it will take warning one another daily about the deceitfulness of sin (Hebrews 3:12-13). In addition, it will mean regularly interacting with the family members of the church, so we really get to know them and become a catalyst in promoting “love and good works” with a constant cheering each other on and cheering each other up (Heb. 10:24-25). The continual reminder of our Savior’s return is a comfort to our hearts and minds to press on in this race of faith (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). It will be worth it all when we see Jesus!

God will bless our persevering in faithfulness to His plan of preserving relationships within His Church!

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.    1 John 4:11