What Really Matters

I was recently reading a blog by Michael Sullivant and I really appreciated these paragraphs and wanted to share them with you: 

“…Even spiritual disciplines can become another form of self-protection. I can use solitude to avoid people, Bible study to avoid my emotions, ministry to avoid my family, or fasting to feel spiritually superior. A practice intended to open me to grace can subtly become another project of self-management.

At their best, I think of the disciplines as something like humility drills. And they work best when combined with relational skills. They put us in places where we remember that we are creatures and God is God. We are weak, but he is strong. We need grace. We need practice. And, perhaps most uncomfortably for some of us, we need one another.

This is where spiritual formation becomes irreducibly relational. You cannot really practice forgiveness without someone to forgive. You cannot learn reconciliation without experiencing rupture. You cannot learn to receive correction without someone loving and courageous enough to correct you. Hospitality requires guests. Differentiated love requires somebody who sees things differently than you do. Covenant faithfulness requires relationships that last long enough to become difficult.

Love requires people.”  For the rest of this article go to:  https://michaelsullivant1.substack.com/p/the-dance-of-grace-in-the-grove-part-803

Whether we like it or not, we need each other.  I can’t be fully me and fulfill the destiny God has for me on the earth without you.  He’s brought us together for such a time as this.  We might not always like it.  It might be difficult and sometimes terrifying, but I believe God has a divine purpose in it all and I’m eager to learn from you.  This journey is not an easy one and there are times I want to bail, yet I get a glimpse of the plans and purposes of God and I’m grateful I’m not alone.  Together, we are becoming who we are!