For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 The standard doctrine of salvation within any true Christian church is that one is saved not by what they do, but in whom they believe and submit to. That being, of course, Jesus Christ. And yet, one of the most common qualities among Christians today is an overwhelming sense of the need to do things on one’s own. We are a society and culture that is obsessed with the ability and necessity to completely forgo the help of others so that we might be isolated islands of self-sufficiency.
I wonder how that is working for everyone?
In our haste to be the hero of our own stories, we have sacrificed the ingrained need within our nature as humans for community. God instilled in each of us the need to gather as fellow persons of faith, grow with one another, challenge one another, and submit to God together. But it is often one of the first things we cast off from our lives! Who needs community, who needs connection, who needs the church?
