Well, thanks again for joining us for another podcast of Struggling Well. And as we said last week, we kind of finished talking about the theme of isolation and how that's one of Satan's tools I think subtle tool but a tool nonetheless to keep the body of Christ from being just what Christ intended us to be u mutual encouragement support to one another in the book of Galatians in Paul's letter to the church of Galatia he says this in chapter 6 bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. So two things to bear each other's burdens and to fulfill the law of Christ. The law of Christ is to love one another. To love one another. that's how the world will know that we're his followers by the way we love each other. And part of loving someone else is entering into the messiness of bearing their burdens. I think what happens sometimes Suzi is that people would say yes to that. But then when they look at it in their own life, they would say, "But my burdens are just too ugly for anyone else to have to see, for anyone else to have to bear." And so it's easier just to isolate. And when we do that, I believe that Satan notches a little victory in his belt.
You know, I think yeah, I think you're right there. I know that's hard to believe that I would actually agree with you, but I do because I so respect you, babe. I do. you know, I woke up this morning with the idea of the church in Acts when they began to form,
right?
You know, Paul is constantly talking in the New Testament in his letters to the churches about being united, being one. and the book of Acts is I mean there are churches that have started based try to base themselves on Acts and not a bad idea because of the way they loved each other. And I think what strikes me in the beginning of Acts is how they took care of each other's needs. Like if somebody had a need, somebody else would come along and take care of that. What's absent now is that you and I think you said it last week that everybody's individual. The individualism I can handle it myself and it seems that in our culture and we talk about this ad nauseium I know but our culture is so in our face all the time but we that whole idea of being an individual is reality. You can do it yourself. You just put your nose to the ground. stone, another oldfashioned term, but you do it. You just do it. But in the book of Acts, there was something very different going on. They were taking care of one another. years ago, I heard this illustration about a tribe, and I don't even know if they where in Africa they existed, where in that continent they existed. I don't know any of the details. All I know is I remember this particular story. And again, I don't know the author of the story or where it originated from, but that it goes this way that when somebody in within the tribe would do something that would be harmful to the tribe in some way. They would break a confidence or they would hurt another person of the tribe, whatever. The tribe would put that person in the center of a circle and what they would do is instead of we think, oh, beat the tar out of him, he betrayed the community. What they would do is they would speak words of encouragement to that person to tell them the things about them that were good and memorable and important. And then that person in response would repent of that issue, not because they'd been beaten to death, but because they had been encouraged to death almost. And so that kind of community, can you imagine doing that? we don't because we're in our little own little silos.
Yeah. And then there are the flip side of that. It's a great illustration. The flip side of that is people take the risk because it is a risk to be vulnerable enough to share your burdens, to share the difficult things you're going through.
the flip side is when people have done that in a church community and a and have those things weaponized against them.
Yeah. Oh, shame on us.
Yeah, I know. Shame on us because it's it I think we all love the idea of bearing one another's burdens. I think we skip over that last phrase that Paul uses there and so fulfill ffill the law of Christ. Well, the law of Christ was to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourself. And then as he says as it says in John when Jesus is with his disciples before they leave, he leaves them and goes to the cross. I want you to love one another. By this the world will know you're my disciples. And so the response should not be one of judgment when somebody shares whatever it is that's going on in their life, the thing that the thing that keeps them from isolating because it's just too shameful or it's too hurtful or it's whatever. that we would actually come alongside them in a way that is redeeming
and expresses the love of Christ. And when that happens, then that's when the world, I think, sits up and takes notice.
You know, I was I want to flip that coin over because I was recently at a lunchon And I was talking to a young gal the age of one of our daughters and I was asking her in our particular area of the country there we're in a pocket of a lot of influence and a lot of I would say financial resources and it's also easy to extricate yourself from community if you feel like you don't measure up like you don't have enough or whatever anyway in talking to this young girl I said to her how do you live in this affluent community. How do you how do you make it? She said such a profound thing for such a young woman. She said to me, I know that when I stop enjoying the ways that God is working in someone's life, whether it be financial, job, relational, whatever, she goes, "Then I know that there's sin inside of me." And I thought, "Wow,
that was fascinating." So, it's not just bearing each other's burdens, the hard ones, that's really important, but rejoicing those who rejoice.
You know, weeping with those who weep, but I think it's hard to rejoice when somebody somebody's life goes in a direction that maybe you wish your life had gone in. And so then we isolate from that because we think we don't measure up, we're not enough. And what ends up happening is there's all these little pockets of they and them. I don't know that just that thought just came across my mind. So
yeah, and I look at behind it all, and again, this is doesn't this doesn't excuse my choices, my behaviors, but behind it all is Satan's subtle way to tear at the fabric of the community of the body of Christ. that's how God designed us. He designed us for relationship. He designed us to live in community. And is it going to be messy? Yes, it's going to be messy. But when Satan can successfully isolate for whatever the reason, May be
he did it in the garden.
He did it in the garden.
He isolated Adam and Eve from God by his question.
So he tears at the fabric of the way God designed us.
And the reminder to me is that God is the designer of life. He's the sustainer of life. He's the giver of life. And Satan would do anything he can to get that to be torn apart. And he's pretty successful a lot of times, unfortunately.
Yeah.
In the way we relate to each other. together.
You just think about the ways throughout scripture in which the opportunity to unite or divide came up again and again and again. Yeah.
And as we've talked about before, you know, Jesus certainly talks about the importance of community. He talks about the importance of being one just as he and the father are one. And either we decide we're going to live that way or we're going to like we've said many times, we're going to form our own theological framework and we're going to live according to that and then typically what we do is then we blame God because our framework didn't work out.
Yeah. And just one last biblical illustration when Paul wrote to the church in Philippi a church that he loved deeply, a church that was dear to his heart, he in that letter encourages them to get two people in particular, he names them Eodia and Cintuchi to agree. apparently they were not doing well. together.
And it was important for Paul to see these two women come together, put aside their differences, not for just their sake in relationship, but for the sake of the gospel that they had been laborers with Paul and in
Oh, that's really good.
In his journey,
I think we should name our next dog. I was going to say child, but we're so old. Our next dog, Cee, I can't even say it.
That might be interesting when we go to call that dog. any Anyway, I hope you have a great week. We hope you have a great week and remember, being in community matters. Have a good week. Thanks for joining us. To learn more about the Struggling Well podcast, visit tandemspirituality. com.