Willing to be impacted by others?
A commenter made the following statement at The Interrelational Church:
I think that the problem we encounter is that most people are readily willing to impact others lives, but are not as willing to be impacted by the lives of others.
Can true relationship exist between two people if one or the other refuses to be impacted – changed – by the other person? This is a question that the church must answer. Biblical fellowship is not “shake hands with three people around you.” Instead, biblical fellowship is sharing in each other’s lives… something that cannot happen in two hours on Sunday morning.
Vulnerability… that seems to be key here. Are we willing to allow other people to see us at our worst? Are we willing to allow the Spirit of God to work through other people to affect change in our lives? These two questions are related… Can we have fellowship with one another if we are not willing to impact the other person’s life, and to be impacted by the other person?
Hmm, I appear to be a bit backward. I’m always looking to be impacted rather than to impact…
ioanna
We should certainly expect the Holy Spirit to work through others to impact our lives. But, in the same way, we should expect the Holy Spirit to work through us to impact the lives of others. We should not assemble with other believers only to receive edification, but also for the Holy Spirit to use us to edify others.
Alan
Of course. That sounded more self-centered than I hope I am. Indeed I hope to edify others. I rather meant that I’m better at learning than teaching.