If you look at my page for long enough, you've figured out by now that I am a runner. I grew up running cross country and track. As much as the sport is a solo event, it is also a team event. This is a misconception about cross country and track. The goal of the high school season was to make it to state. While it was rewarding to make it on your own to state, it was so much more fun to make it as a team. It is comforting to have your teammates there competing with you - takes some of the nerves away. I don't know how many times I wanted to give up in the middle of a race, but immediately dismissing the thought remembering I had a team counting on me to finish that race as best as I can. My teammates were the encouragement I needed and were always one of the first to offer encouragement to me on difficult practices or in the middle of a race.
My junior season, I started struggling with injuries and immediately was discouraged because my times were getting slower. Mentally, I wanted to throw in the towel and be done. I had a hard time being there because I knew I wasn't as good as I once was. One of my best friends in high school and teammate one day wrote me a card that changed my perspective on the whole season. To give you context, she had struggled the season before and was giving advice from something she had already been through. She told me that she knew what I was going through was hard and difficult, but she reminded me that Jesus endured suffering and death on the cross for all humanity. Which is considerably more difficult than what I was going through. It put all of it into perspective. While at the time, running slower in a cross-country race was the most difficult thing I was going through, there are people who are truly suffering. I needed someone to care enough to step in and say the hard truth in that moment.
I was reminded of this moment in high school after reading a verse in Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!" If I didn't have a friend/teammate who would have lifted me up, I would have sulked in pity and became a very bitter person. This is like our walk with Christ. While I am on a personal walk with Jesus, I am also surrounded by Christian community. If I am struggling on my walk, I can count on someone from my community to help hold me accountable, pray for me, and encourage me. What I have struggled with in the past is that I try to keep everything to myself and isolate from community or I will not have much of a personal time with Jesus and be more focused on community. I have been on both extremes in my life and finding the balance can be difficult. As always, Jesus is the best example of how to walk this out: He spent a lot of time with the 12 disciples, and He would purposefully go alone to pray and be alone with the Father.
In Luke 5:12-16, Jesus cleansed a leaper, and many gathered to be healed. In verse 16, Jesus withdrew to spend time to pray alone. "But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray." This was a continual practice for Jesus. He had many demands for His time and an increasing number of people wanting to see and hear Him, yet He made time to purposefully go alone to pray and spend time with the Father. Jesus was modeling for us that we can't out pour to others when we aren't being ministered to by the Spirit. It is hard for me to encourage others in faith, while I haven't spent time with God and have been encouraged. We all have a way unique to us that we can spend time alone with God. Mine is in the morning or on runs.
What does good godly community look like? Another example came to mind - the friendship of Jonathan and David. Jonathan, the son of King Saul, was the heir to the throne. Yet, because of Saul's unfaithfulness, God took the kingdom from Saul and anointed David to be the next king. This takes us to 1 Samuel 23:15-18. "David saw that Saul had come to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh. And Jonathan, Saul's son, rose and went to David at Horesh, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said to him, 'Do not fear the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Saul my father also knows this.' And the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. David remained at Horesh, and Jonathan went home." Jonathan wasn't jealous that David would become king over him. He trusted in the Lord allowed him to accept the Lord's plan for his life and David's life. Jonathan encouraged David to not be afraid but trust in the Lord.
Our community should:
Encourage us in the ways of the Lord and to follow Jesus. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Rebuke us lovingly when they see us doing the opposite. (Galatians 6:1)
Pray for us. (James 5:16)
Love us. (1 Peter 4:8-9)
Celebrate with us & mourn with us. (Galatians 6:2)
Lift us up when we fall. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10)
Confess sins/struggles to one another. (James 5:16)
Forgive us. (Ephesians 4:32)
Thankfully, God has blessed me with great community throughout the stages of my life thus far. I trust that He will provide community in all stages of life. Don't run alone in the race of life. Don't lose your relationship with Christ by getting lost in the pack of runners. Spur each other to keep running and to keeping fixing their eyes on Jesus.
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