You Are Not Alone--March 9, 2021

You Are Not Alone--March 9, 2021

"And Jesus who is called Justus greets you. These are the only ones of the circumcision among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me." [Colossians 4:11]

You are not alone.

You--in the good work you do, trying to make the world a better place, trying to shed a little light amidst the gloom, striving to love like Jesus, seeking to bring grace to the people you meet--you are not alone as you do all things and make all those efforts.

Some days--or may be weeks or months--it may feel like it's you against a world full of indifference and mean-ness, but, no; please know: you are not alone.  

You have team-mates.  You have co-workers. You have companions on this life's journey.  They may not be called to the exact same kind of work that you are.  They may have a different calling or a different set of gifts to share with the world as they let their lights so shine.  But they have been placed alongside you so that you can strengthen them and they can strengthen you.  We are given each other that way, as reminders that none of us does this Kingdom work on their own, and nobody is left to their own devices.

It helps sometimes to read these ancient words of Paul to know that he felt the same way, too, and that he needed the reminder from time to time.  His reasons for needing it might be a little different from ours--we have a pandemic to deal with, and the ways it has cut us off from our usual ways of connecting in person, while Paul had the isolation of imprisonment to deal with.  But either way, we each need reminders that we aren't in this alone.  So God gives us each other.

It's funny--and beautiful--to think that you may have been sent into someone else's life so that you could be encouragement for them, and that at the very same time, they may have been sent into yours as a support and cheerleader for you.  Both can be true at the same time--God is clever enough that the flow of blessing can go in both directions at the same time.

Maybe today is a good day to take the time to tell the people who have been comforts and encouragements to you how much they mean to you.  Maybe it is worth the time first to pause and think about who those people are in your life these days.  It might be the very thing that person needs to know that their efforts are making a difference.  It could be the way they find their strength renewed to keep at the work they are doing.  

So I'll tell you what--I'll free you up from reading right now.  Let's let today's devotion be short, so that, right here and right now, you'll have a minute or two to spare to go send that message, write that email, make that phone call, or send that note to encourage someone else who you would call a "co-worker for the Kingdom" or someone who has been a comfort for you.  And let's just see how those small acts of goodness help each other to keep on embodying God's love for the watching world.  

Go ahead--you could be the voice someone else needs who will say to them, "You are not alone."  Let's get to work today....

Lord God, thank you for the people you have put in our lives as co-workers and encouragers.  Help us to be that same thing back for them and others.