Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
When teaching on the subject of self growth and positive thinking many Life Coaches advocate the idea of only mixing with positive thinking people. They encourage you to socialise with the successful and avoid those who express any negative views or thoughts. Looking from the human perspective it does make sense. Being immersed in an environment where success is the only way to think will undoubtedly rub off in the end. One would no doubt start thinking in a successful and positive way.
So am I advocating that we should only mix with successful, positive thinking people?
No, not at all. I was thinking more about associating with Christians. Should we only mix with like minded people; those who follow Christ and and those have similar views on life as ourselves?
Well I answer this very ambiguously by saying Yes and No. I'll explain the "no" bit first of all. Our saviour Jesus Christ didn't continuously surround himself with believers. He mixed with sinners. He had a message to preach, souls to save. By surrounding himself with the people who got the message, those who knew and believed in all he said meant that he would not be spreading the word. He needed to address the non believers, the sinners in order to help save more souls.
Likewise we are called to witness. We are called to spread "The Gospel", the good news. This isn't going to happen if we preach to the converted. We need to engage those who don't believe, those who don't understand if we are going to fulfill our calling.
Now to answer the "yes" part of me sitting on the fence. I think it is very important that we also mix with fellow Christians and that word "fellow" means we create fellowship. If we go back to our group of success thinking people we recognise that their way of thinking rubs off on each other; they encourage each other. Likewise, being amongst other Christians our positive thoughts on life, our faith and testimonies encourages each other as we continue to experience our Christian adventures, journey on our Christian path through life. When we pray together our prayers can be so much more effective if we pray as a group.
And people coming together in the name of Christ is a church. A church isn't about the bricks and mortar that makes up the building; it's about the people. In countries where Christians are persecuted people come together in the name of Christ in secret, behind closed doors. This constitutes a church every much as the ones that we attend on Sunday mornings. I attend a wonderful bible study group that totals just seven people but we have some lively and encouraging discussions mixed with prayer and worship and I see this group as part of my church also.
So as Christians we have the opportunity of weaving a wonderful tapestry as we envelope ourselves with the good and the bad, the wealthy and the needy.
How fantastic is that?
Terry Norrington
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