Safe With One Another

Meditations for Ragamuffins 

January 2, 2024

Safe With One Another

What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.

Galatians 6:15b

One of the greatest mysteries for those seeking the life in Christ as their way of life is how we manage the inner war between our fallen sinful nature and the reality “that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Apostle Paul was quite dramatic in his response to our dilemma. He told the Galatians that his “old self has been crucified with Christ,” and he told the Romans “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism” (Galatians 2:20 & Romans 6:3-4).

Paul wasn’t just using hyperbole to make his point. We have been given new life by God, and we are His new creation by faith in Christ Jesus. This new life is altogether different than our old life. Our mission is to take this new life, which John Wesley called holiness of heart, and make it our way of life, which Wesley called holiness of life. There are milestones for this new life we can look for as we journey along the way with Jesus. One of the milestones is our authenticity with one another.

Someone once said, with great sadness, that if he had to write an epitaph for his parents’ tombstone, he would have to write: “Here lie two people who never knew one another.” He said his father could never share his feelings, so his mother never truly knew him. Feeling safe with God’s love for us and safe with another person so we can share our innermost feelings is one of the greatest gifts we will receive in this lifetime. When the history of the twentieth century is written, one of the greatest achievements noted will be the development of self-help groups. At the core of these self-help groups is authentic sharing, where group members own their feelings and take responsibility for their lives. I would add to this the reunion, or accountability, groups that are part of the fourth-day spiritual retreats such as Tres Dias, the Walk to Emmaus, and Cursillo.

My Takeaway: A core value within every Christian small group, and within every home, should be the building of authentic community where the members learn to trust in God’s love for them and thus learn to feel safe so they can be real with one another.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2024 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.