Get Connected

By Andrew Ready

Being “connected” seems a bit of a buzz word these days.  The concept is used to market mobile phones, computers, travel packages, internet plans, and much more.  Advertisers know that it taps into a deep need within all of us to have a secure context in which we feel accepted.  A lot of this connection revolves around the sharing of information to facilitate social relationships.  Information sharing, however, is not the full picture of what it means to be connected in the fullest sense.  The Bibles speaks of the wonder of marriage; two unique individuals being united to make one new family so they are no longer two, but ‘one’.  Mark 10:8.  A marriage is not just built on the mutual sharing of information about what we have done today, what movie we just watched, or where we are at any given time.  Of course a husband and wife speak about these things, but their relationship needs to run much, much deeper.  When they have committed themselves to marriage they have more than a loose social connection, their lives now belong to each other.

When Christians speak of being in fellowship with God and with one another, we are speaking of much more than social connection.  There is more to being in relationship with God than just praying to Him, although this is one aspect of our fellowship.  Likewise our relationships together as members of His body as part of a local church congregation (see the article, The Body – Many Parts connected),  are to be more than just a social connection. 

Imagine the connection you have if you link two paper clips together.  The paperclips are in constant contact, yet are still really independent of each other.  You could still separate them and you would still have two paper clips.  In fact, they’re probably more useful on their own than they ever were together.  Now, in contrast, think of the connection you have when you put a battery in a torch.  The battery is touching the contacts in the torch, but there is something more happening!  The electricity from the battery flows through the various components, allowing the bulb to light up.  This is the kind of connection where something is shared.  It is more than just being ‘in touch’, there is a connection which is vital for any of the various components to fulfil their purpose.

So much of the Bible is about how to live together in fellowship, as well as how to walk in fellowship with God.  The two things are mutually dependant.  The apostle John said, ‘if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin’.  1 Jn 1:7.  In contrast to this John also said, ‘if anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.’  1 Jn 4:20.  As we fellowship together in the love of God we are called to minister life to each other.  There is a supernatural element of life which God wants to bring to us.  It is a capacity to love in a way that cares more for others than ourselves.  It is the capacity to speak encouragement which is more than kind words, but can actually impact and strengthen a person in their heart in the midst of whatever they are facing.  It is the capacity to bring healing – not just physical healing but also healing to the broken spirit and the damaged soul.  Just like the torch, though, we need to be properly connected for this life to flow.  We need to learn how to live in the love of God practically, interfacing with each other through the good times and the bad, when offences come as well as when we are all getting on well.