“Covering Your Back”

Hebrews 3:12-13; 10:23-25 stresses the importance of community.  But let’s not confuse “community” with lock-step-it is, where everyone is required to look, act, talk, think, and walk like identical cardboard cut-outs or risk ostracism. That’s not “community,” that’s conformity, and nothing can stifle a soul faster!

“We walk the healing path alone and lonely at times” says Dan Allender. “Moments specifically designed for each of us take us through the valley and into the desert, where God woos us with his strange, wild love. But the majority of our journey is meant to be traveled with a few others.”

“Community” includes the concepts of belonging, commonality, common (but not necessarily “identical”) possession, participation, priorities. Allender fleshes out the concept:

“We are indebted to one another. You cover my back. I watch yours. I must try to protect you from sin’s deceitfulness and the resulting proclivity to harden your heart against God’s tender call. We all stand in drying cement. If we don’t keep moving on the journey we will become bound and enslaved to something or someone other than God.”

Who’s “covering your back?”

Shared by Kristine.