so i have talked a lot about love. what it is. what it isn’t. one of the things i argue love is is confrontation. it is calling each other out in love. it is letting the Spirit guide us when we need to coax each other along. it’s huge. without it, we stay in our self assumed have it all together place.
i bring this up because i talk about it but i fear that people don’t think i actually mean it. i mean sure it is much easier to say we need to confront people, do the confronting and never be confronted. it is so much easier to see the sin in someone else than hear it in your own life. maybe it isn’t even a sin but something you’re doing without even realizing it.
last week was one of those opportunities. a woman i love dearly said to me…we should meet together once a week for a bit. as i probed for intentions she shared that she thought there was something i needed to hear though no one had the guts to say.
we met. she shared truth. called out lies. gave me homework and said we would meet again.
i could go into the specifics but it doesn’t really matter. there will always be something. but i can’t even put into words the amount of respect that grew in me for her as she talked. my heart was stirred for the Lord as He showed that He is so faithful to not leave us where we are, even when we are oblivious.
none of this can happen though if there isn’t community. when you know someone, it doesn’t even have to be a long discussion and sit down meeting sometimes. sometimes it is simply calling out a lie. sometimes it is simply speaking truth. but it all comes out of knowing and being known.
if you don’t know people, you will never be able to speak into their lives. if you aren’t known, you are missing out on letting others speak into your life. if you aren’t in community, get in some. can’t find it? keep looking. afraid? who isn’t. just want to skate on by? you don’t even know what you’re missing.
it won’t always be easy. you will get hurt. you will be let down. but in community, you enter into the presence of the Lord in a whole new way and in His presence there is fullness of joy!