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“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:16

As the Body of Christ, Christians are meant to complement each other in doing Kingdom-growing work. To the unbelieving world, we’re to demonstrate the grace and mercy that has been extended to us by the Lord, so that they’ll see how different we are and glorify God (Matthew 5:16). So, may we live this way—even as the cultural current gets stronger, and swimming upstream gets harder and harder.

But what about within the family of believers? Well, throughout the New Testament, Jesus and His Apostles call us repeatedly (over 50 times) to the “one anothers” of doing life together as Christians. These commandments establish how we’re to behave under the lordship of Christ because they reflect the pattern of Christ. We are, first and foremost, to love one another (John 13:35; Romans 13:8; 1 Peter 1:22; 1 John 3:11). Another biggie is for us to get along—to live in unity (Romans 15:5-7; Ephesians 4). After all, if we’re always fighting and quarreling and backbiting each other, why on earth would an unbeliever look at us and think, “Yeah, I definitely want to follow Jesus since that’s what it looks like!”

Although there is plenty to read (in the Word and about the Word) regarding how the Church should treat one another, I recently heard a simple, yet profound, statement that beautifully summed up a why for all those one anothers: We’re all just walking each other home. (I know, right?!)

Now, I get that “walking someone home” isn’t as much of a thing as it used to be (for a million reasons I won’t go into here). But everyone can understand the rationale for doing so: It’s dark outside; there are entities lurking about that want to cause harm; and walking alone could be dangerous. So, having another alongside you as you journey home brings safety, comfort, encouragement, support.

This is a goosebump concept for Christ-followers, is it not? From the moment we surrender to Jesus, we’re on our way Home—stepping in the direction of obedience to Him, becoming more like Him, until we are ultimately glorified with Him. And, friend, the world through which we are walking is dark (getting darker by the day). We have a very real enemy whose sole purpose is to kill, steal, and destroy (John 10:10a). It’s a dangerous place—especially if we try to go it alone! (Like that weak gazelle that lags behind the pack, we become easy pickings for our predator when we choose isolation from the family of believers.) But God created us for community, to walk in love and unity through this world toward eternity…to support, encourage, comfort, and provide safety for one another. Plus, although the road is narrow, there’s always room for one more—so invite as many people as you can to join you on the walk!

It’s dark out. And we don’t belong here—in fact, this world hates us (John 15:19). But praise the Lord, we’re on our way home…so lock arms with your brothers and sisters in Christ. And let’s walk home.

“Good and gracious heavenly Father, may I recognize the Truth that this world is not my home—but I’m on my way. And as I walk in obedience and love, may I embrace my family of believers, so I’ll never journey alone.”

For His Glory

Julianne Winkler Smith
TRBC Women’s Life