Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought
us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty
power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by
adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your
purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called
“today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin.
In college, I met with a good friend every week to talk
about faith. We’d sit out in the courtyard and try to keep each other
accountable. We talked about doubts and questions—and about sin.
We’re still good friends, all these years later. We don’t talk about
avoiding sin the way we did then, but we often exhort and support each
other. We’ve talked to each other about relationships and jobs and
helped each other make big life decisions. He’s often helped me see
things about myself I couldn’t see. I would be a different person if it
weren’t for his friendship.
Faith does not exist in a vacuum.
Faith is a living and communal creature. When we struggle to be faithful
all on our own, we fool ourselves into thinking we know ourselves
better than we actually do. We all have blind spots and tend toward
self-deception. On our own, it’s too easy to fool ourselves that we’ve
got it all figured out. It’s only with the help of other people that we
can avoid deceiving ourselves, to keep our hearts and our eyes open.
