Mixing Strands...

“It is not good that man should be alone.”

This scripture in Genesis is about the merits of matrimony.

But this tremendous passage also reinforces man’s need for fellowship, not just with the fairer gender specifically, but with others in general.

Man was created for relationship. For physical health, one of our most basic needs is for acceptance and belonging.

We need fellowship for our spiritual health too. We draw strength from one another. Ever notice that the strongest rope is not made from just one strand? It’s made from three. That’s scriptural, by the way. (Ecclesiastes 4:12)

When making a rope one of the final steps is dipping the three strands that have been twisted together into a chemical sealer. Over time those three strands mix with each other. Fibers from one strand begin to mesh with the others so that eventually it is difficult to tell where one strand ends and another begins. That’s a big part of where the rope gets its strength. Can it be any different with the people of God?

The strongest buildings are constructed using triangular supports. Again, three sides.

When we make a choice to fellowship on a regular basis we are intertwining our “strand” with other strands. The Holy Spirit then becomes the chemical sealer, if you will. And over times we begin to mesh with those believers around us and gain strength.

On the flip side, when we choose not to fellowship on a regular basis, or when we forsake the assembly, as the Bible indicates, we separate our strand from the rest of the rope. Not only does that make us vulnerable to the devil’s schemes as individuals, but it weakens the other strands as well. When that happens, our enemy – a liar and father of lies – moves in for an easier strike. When we choose to be alone or to separate ourselves from the rest of the body, we make ourselves easier prey to the influences of destructive forces.

At the risk of sounding too morbid, have you ever notice that soldiers are never tortured in large groups? That’s because basic human nature is to draw strength from others. A soldier, anyone really, can survive under adverse conditions much longer in a group than alone. The will to live is tremendous and is even stronger when we are in the company of other like-minded people.

So what does that mean for believers? Simply that church attendance and involvement is a not only a good idea, but in a very real sense fellowship and mixing our “strand” with the strands of fellow believers is a commandment of God.

-Ben Hanneman