The Teacher in Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 advocates for companionship as a way of bringing meaning to the things we do. Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” Matthew 18:20 promises that God is present when two or three gather in God’s name. When Jesus took his ministry public he was surrounded by followers. He had close relationships with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. While he selected 12 to be his followers, he invested more deeply in Peter, James, and John. He even sent out 72 of his followers in pairs. When Paul became a follower of Jesus, Barnabas walked with him in the faith. They in turn walked together with Jesus. Paul later invited Timothy to walk with him, as he walked with Christ. Paul had lots of companions in his walk with Jesus: Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2), Timothy and Epaphroditus (Phil 3:19-30), Euodia and Syntyche (Phil 4:1-3), and the long lists at the ends of his letters. One thing is very evident throughout scripture, the walk with Jesus is not done in isolation. When Jesus calls us to follow him, he invites us into a community of believers to walk with.
Who in your life helps you follow Christ more sincerely?
What did it take to get to this kind of relationship?
There is a type of relationship that develops over time where the best qualities of the other person make you a better person. It is a wonderful gift when you have people in your life who naturally make you a better Christian because they model Christ so well. There’s another level of Spiritual relationship that is cultivated through intentionality where you share in the struggles of walking with Jesus. You challenge, encourage, and build up one another in the call to “be holy as I am holy.” These relationships are hard at first because they take vulnerability and honesty. They are often left untried as we lean towards the notion that the spiritual side of life is a private matter.
As we begin our approach towards the end of this year, I want to encourage you to prayerfully consider what investing in spiritual relationships would look like for you in 2022.
Who are you already in a friendship with where you could add spiritual conversations to take your friendship to another depth?
Who do you see walking with Jesus well and want to learn from them?
Who do you see that is younger than you that you would like to share the walk with and learn from them?
Over the next year, I’d like to provide a number of resources to help create space for these relationships to develop naturally in your flow of life. If you are interested in getting started but not sure of what the first step needs to be, I’d love to help you out!