Fellowship of the Saints

I have come to realize that we must not underestimate the power that comes from spending time with our brothers and sisters in Christ. As a youth pastor, it was amazing to see how fired up our students were right after our annual summer camp. They were joyous about their faith, excited about the opportunity to worship, and they wanted to share this excitement with the world. However, this fire quickly dimmed and eventually went completely out. For some, it is simply because the student was charged up on emotion and not the Holy Spirit. However, for others, it is because they are easily influenced by their circumstances, so when they are no longer around other Christians in a Christian environment, their faith goes to the back burner. They become "undercover Christians."

I often encourage the students to take the fire home, and rebuke them from the pulpit when they go back to the way they were before. However, as adults, we are often no better; it's just that we hide it much better. While students quit coming to church and post their worldly exploits on the internet for the whole world to see, adults hide their faith in plain sight. We go through the motions by attending church with our families with artificial smiles on our face, but in the private, we rarely read our Bible, pray, or invest time in Christian relationships. We have become too busy with the responsibility in our lives to make the extra effort in our faith.

Yet, when we spend time with other Christians, our lives are changed by God's grace as demonstrated through His bride... the church. We spur one another on, encourage one another, pray for one another, and love one another. It is impossible to grow without the church, and that is why the scripture says do not forsake spending time with the church, or we will be influenced by the world instead of His love.