Many people seek fellowship because they are afraid to be alone. Because they cannot stand loneliness, they are driven to seek the company of other people. There are Christians, too, who cannot endure being alone, who have had some bad experiences with themselves, who hope they will gain some help in association with others. They are generally disappointed. Then they blame the fellowship for what is really their own fault. The Christian community is not a spiritual sanatorium. The person who comes into a fellowship because he is running away from himself is misusing it for the sake of diversion, no matter how spiritual this diversion may appear. He is really not seeking community at all, but only distraction which will allow him to forget his loneliness for a brief time, the very alienation that creates the deadly isolation of man. The disintegration of communication and all genuine experience, and finally resignation and spiritual death are the result of such attempts to find a cure.
I just read quote#12, and it seems like a really good idea to meet with other siblings in Christ in the early morning for prayer and communion and such. Thanks for posting that! I think it'd be really cool if we manage to get it to work...(I'll need to check w/ Tracey and Vivian their schedules)
ReplyDeleteQuote#27 is a little morbid, but it has a lot of truth to it. Sometimes I wonder if I went to bible study in the past (like in high school, I mean) just to escape from school and everything else, as a diversion :-/ I guess this is something to pray about as well.
It really is enjoyable being with the CCF and LCF community though :)