By Jeremy Writebol
Scripture Reading: Colossians 4:16-18, Hebrews 3:12-14, Hebrews 10:23-25, 2 Peter 3:15-18
When was the last time you wrote a letter of substance to a friend? If we remove email from the equation, my guess is it has probably been a while, if ever. Letters are typically not how we communicate today. But have you ever considered the power that a written letter could contain? I have a special box in my bedroom that contains all the love letters my wife wrote to me early in our relationship before we were married. The personal and private nature of those letters are nothing I would share publicly, but the power of them holds considerable sway in my heart.
At the close of his letter to the Colossian church, Paul encouraged a letter exchange with the Laodicean church (Colossians 4:16). Essentially, he said you read the letter I sent them, and they should read the letter I sent you. The shared power and encouragement of those letters was meant to instruct, encourage, equip, and empower the Christians in those two communities to live as faithful followers of Jesus.
More than just trading his letters between churches, I see Paul developing a form of discipleship and spiritual formation within the communities of Christians. Effectively, he was bringing them to a practice of spiritual encouragement that can only happen in the togetherness of the believers gathering together.
When you read something from the Bible on your own, you might consider it a bit, ponder how it might impact your life, and then go on from there. It may not even deeply stick in your mind that day. But when you are together with a handful of other Christians and read and discuss something from Scripture, a memorable encounter happens. You are being formed by the shared Word of God. You are encouraging, challenging, enlightening, and developing a life of lived spirituality together. This is what German theologian and pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer talked about in his work Life Together when he said, “Christians need other Christians who speak God’s Word to them.”
It’s worth asking—do you have that community of fellow believers to speak God’s Word to? Is there a church or a small group of Christians that are speaking God’s Word to you? We desperately need the community of believers to help keep us from “an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12). We need each other to “provoke love and good works” among each other (Hebrews 10:24). Let me ask again, who are those fellow believers that you can share the Word of God with and that are sharing God’s Word with you?
Letters are powerful documents by which we can be encouraged and instructed. But letters shared with friends in community spark and develop true spiritual formation. As we come to the conclusion of these short letters by the apostle Paul, it is good for us to remember and consider the community of each other as we faithfully pursue Christ. We can’t do it alone. We were never intended to.
Written by Jeremy Writebol
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