“They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity – all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-47 NLT)
In a recent Breakpoint article John Stonestreet shared: “…in a recent article published in The Wall Street Journal, director Dr. Robert Waldinger and associate director Dr. Marc Schulz pointed to the most significant contributing factor for physical health, mental health, and longevity. Close personal connections are significant enough that if we had to take all 85 years of the Harvard Study and boil it down to a single principle for living, one life investment that is supported by similar findings across a variety of other studies, it would be this: Good relationships keep us healthier and happier. Period. If you want to make one decision to ensure your own health and happiness, it should be to cultivate warm relationships of all kinds.”
The truth is there’s no way to exaggerate the value of positive, godly relationships. Life was never intended to be lived alone, but in the Body of Christ we can find such rich and rewarding fellowship that not only impacts us spiritually, but physically, emotionally, and in virtually every other area of our lives.
One significant beauty of walking with Jesus is meeting others whose lives are devoted to Him, so much so that together each of our lives is enhanced and enriched, not only to our benefit, but to the glory of God.
Stonestreet further shared: “In his masterful essay “The Weight of Glory,” C.S. Lewis argued that this relational aspect of our humanity had eternal implications: It may be possible for each to think too much of his own potential glory hereafter; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor. The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.
All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization—these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
As it turns out, staying married, raising kids, investing in church, and maintaining lifelong friendships could be the most significant thing we do for ourselves and for others, for today and for eternity.”
In today’s culture we never know who is in front of us in the Starbuck’s line or in Walmart. Might they be the next C.S. Lewis or the next “Son of Sam?” While these thoughts can startle and disturb us, the thought that causes me to pray for my neighbors everyday is the reality that each one’s eternal destiny weighs in the balance, and my prayer for them might literally be the difference between life and death for them.
Relationships not only tie us to one another, but to eternity.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 