Read 1 Corinthians 12:26
It was a Wednesday evening in January as I entered a youth room as a new youth leader at the church I visited regularly in my teens and young adult years. There I met her, the woman who would become my pillar; her name, Mayelis (Magie) Keogh (Cisneros).
Church’s aren’t meant to be created as simply a building for people to come and go so you can check it off your list or a place to tithe because the Bible says so. Church is not a building but a body and in our culture, we often forget that God is relational. A body meant for connection and iron sharpening iron. A body meant to work together to achieve the end goal to be more like Jesus so that we can make disciples who make disciples who proclaim the name of Jesus.
Yet, here we are, fallen beings and without each other, how are we sharpened?
Magie was the pillar, the iron the Lord used to sharpen me. He used her character, her faith, her story with Him to minister, challenge, encourage me to become the best that God created for me. Without Magie and how the Lord used her specifically, I would not be who I am today.
Something Pastor Nick stated in a sermon recently was the fact that in any recovery program, the people, the sponsors aren’t meant to just come and go to a meeting, but they jump into the trenches with the newly sober in order to build them up, to support them and walk life with them. This is essentially the point that Paul is trying to make in 1 Corinthians. He is stating the value of one another in another’s life. I love this value of our church because it is a value that Magie taught me early on in my walk with the Lord. She was there. She stood by me as I repented, as I healed, as I grew and she pushed me into a biblical world view that I couldn’t see before and I will be forever grateful for the lives and women the Lord has placed in my life since her. Life, truly is, better together!
Do you have a pillar? Is there someone in your life that lives life with you and builds you up, points you back to Jesus? Someone who sharpens you?
Are you connected within our church, serving or involved in a Grace Group?
What is your next step when it comes to connection? Do you believe this is God’s best for you?
Questions to consider:
- Do you have a “pillar” in your life? If you don’t who comes to mind that you could reach out to?
- Do you believe that God is relational? What does that characteristic of His mean to you?