Little Poop Buckets with Cheese

That's Gizmo's new name. Ok but seriously, what I wanted to write about today is my new outlook on how I should be living as a Christian. So far I've been very self-absorbed. I feel like I've taken way too long JUST focusing on building up myself for God and not much time at all building others up. So I want to start making an effort to work on my relationships with my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. That's something Christ encouraged and commanded while He was here. In this life we need others. We can't do this on our own. We need to have friendships with other Christians to support each other, bear each others' burdens, pray for one another, build each other up, be accountable to one another. Yes, it's important also to have good relationships with the non-Christians in our lives for various reasons. But our relationships with the brethren is valuable for our growth because we have the same focus; we are running the same race. We can therefore help each other overcome sin, we can offer our prayers during hard times, we can impart real wisdom we've learned through the scriptures, and so on.

We need each other. That's something we have to be willing to admit. I've known Christians whose attitude was, "I don't need to be around other Christians...I can do this on my own," and they loose faith fast. They get discouraged when something goes wrong and there's no one there to build them back up. So they give up. It's easy to go back living for yourself when you're only surrounded by those living for themselves. But when you are regularly involved in other Christian's lives, and they're involved in yours, you grow together. You offer a hand when one falls and lift them back up. And they do the same for you. You become stronger... continually, throughout your life. And so do they. The Kingdom is then nourished and can begin to grow and impact the rest of the world.