Remember Beta players?
For the younger guys: They were like VHS tapes only smaller . . . VHS tapes are like these large plastic boxes with wheels inside and tape. You put them in a VCR and they play whatever is recorded on them. . . . A VCR is like this box that connects to your TV and you could play VHS tapes or record TV programs on there. It was a lot like streaming only far more limited.
If you do know what a beta player is, have you scheduled your colonoscopy yet? If not, stop right now and do that.
My friend had a beta player. His name was Mike and we played soccer together. He once had a birthday party and there were probably 4 or 5 of us at his house. I didn’t know them as well but knew Mike. They all had something in common I didn’t – Metallica. Closest I got to them in my music selection was . . . nothing.
I never listened to anything in the same ballpark as Metallica. But for the sake of friendship & fitting in, I pretended to like them.
We all want to fit in, right? We wanted to then, and we want to now.
No relationship is stagnant. We are changing to become more like them or they are changing to become more like us.
Fellowship is an under-used spiritual discipline. Engaging in fellowship with other believers will help you toward spiritual maturity. Couple of thoughts though:
- We need to have relationships with non-believers but those cannot be to the same degree as those with Christians. Engaging with non-Christians is exactly what we should be doing, but these cannot be the exclusive relationships we have, and we cannot allow these to be the most intimate relationships we have with others.
- The central focus of fellowship with Christians is helping each other orient our lives toward spiritual growth. Again, often God uses people to draw us closer to Him. As such, we need to have relationship with other Christians and these ought to be our closest relationships.
The reason I say that fellowship is an under-used spiritual discipline is that we rarely see this as a spiritual discipline. Therefore, we lack to intentionality it takes to have true relationship and fellowship with other Christians.
And this is aside from the Paul, Barnabas, Timothy relationships we spent the previous few days discussing. Fellowship means sharing meals with other Christians. Celebrating holidays together. Engaging in life and making these relationships a priority . . . not allowing non-Christians who don’t have the same moral compass to affect the way you grow.
Thoughts to Journal/Pray:
- What does your fellowship with other Christians look like? Better question . . . scroll through your phone – who do you call/text most frequently?
- Are you a part of your local Church community? Are you there for events & services regularly? Why or why not & how may you need to strengthen this area?
- What is the relationship between intentional Christian Fellowship & growing away from sexualized sin such as pornography?
Reading: