The Fellowship Of Faith

The Fellowship of Faith

You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. Hebrews 12:22

MAYBE YOU’VE FELT ALONE AT TIMES. Perhaps you’ve even wondered if God has abandoned you. But as we’ve seen, the life of faith is not based on visible experiences. It’s based on a vision of truth. And the truth is that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses encouraging us (Hebrews 12:1), we already have citizenship in heaven with access to the joys and celebrations of the city of God, and we have entered into a joyful gathering of saints and angels. We couldn’t be alone if we wanted to—at least not in the sense of spiritual fellowship. We are fully integrated into the society of the eternal city.

We need that fellowship if we are going to persist in our faith. The writer of Hebrews has told us of the great men and women of faith who have filled history with their heroic perseverance. They felt alone sometimes too. As far as we know, no one but Abraham believed God for such outrageous promises in his time. Joseph sat alone in the bottom of a well and then in an Egyptian prison for years before faith became fruit. Rahab acted entirely against her culture and background in embracing Israel’s chosenness. And not many people were standing up for the prophets who were persecuted and killed for telling the truth. The examples are numerous, but they all point to a similar truth: Genuine faith may be alienating at times, but it’s rooted in a vast company of those who have believed. Our faith is bigger than we are.

If you are going to thrive, you will need to see yourself as part of this great company. Whatever you pray for in faith is not an isolated request. It is a piece of the whole. You can take great comfort in God’s overall plan, and if you listen with the ears of the spirit, you may hear other participants cheering you on. You can run your race with endurance because you do not run alone.

The Bible knows nothing of solitary religion.