Encouraging Brothers

I got to have lunch with a good brother in the Lord and he really had me thinking.  I love his passion and his heart for his brothers in Christ.  Everytime we have the opportunity to meet it is a blessing because it refocuses and motivates me on discipleship and evangelism.  

Today he talked about his experience in his life before Christ and how that impacts his walk with Christ now.  Just listening to him gave me so much encouragement and insight. It is funny (as ironic I guess) that we sit down to chat about the state of discipleship and encouragement among the brothers and that is how I leave, encouraged. He was telling me about how in the past he and his friends could pretty much talk about anything because they all knew they were bad. It was a sense of understanding that “you are no better than me, I know what you did.”  So he and his friends had no secrets.  He was telling me how he laments that this is not the way it is in the family of God.  I have to agree.  Paul writes a letter to the Galatians that states, “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, nor male and female but we are one in Christ.” What he means by this is that the only way any of us are able to be united with God is through Jesus.  We are all assimilated into the person of Christ.  God sees us as Jesus.  

Now why is this important in what my friend was saying about being open and honest with each other and the church?  When we remember what Paul writes here we remember that we are all on the same playing ground.  Not one of us could have been accepted into this kingdom family except by the grace and sacrifice of Jesus.  And since that is true that means there is nothing that makes us better than the brother beside us nor worse. Therefore in our struggles we can confess sin because we cannot be judged in it. It also means that we can be open to listen to confession of sin without bringing judgment.  What we do in both situations is bear each other up.  

There is such power in recognizing this.  Confession of sin brings healing.  When we bear each other up I mean we help the one in sin to emotional strength.  We remind them that they are worthy of good because they are a child of the King.  We encourage them in the knowledge that they are loved lavishly and this will never cease in its pouring out.  But we also exhort them into correct behavior.  We provide practical ways to kill sin.  We give accountability in walking godly.  And if we find ourselves as the one in sin (and we all will) we should know our confession is private, that it is understood (in the sense that we are all broken and struggle in different areas), and every interaction is out of love.

I struggle in this area. I have a difficult time opening up.  To be emotionally vulnerable is never easy regardless of if it is sin or just difficulties that are captivating our life. And being empathetic and open to others struggles when you know your own is not a simple task either.  However, I hope that this reminder encourages us to be more intentional in how we go to others and also allowing a space for others to come to us. We need this.  We were made for community. Let us actually be the church we were called to.