Faith Isn't a Solo Sport

Written on 01/13/2023
Christian Dunn

Verse: 2 Timothy 2:22-26

22 Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 

Devotion
I watched a basketball game last night. It was intense. All 5 players on both sides were working so hard to try and win. Can you imagine if the coach decided he wanted to just play one player? 1v5. How would that go? It would be impossible.

This is the point I want to drive home today from this verse. As Paul calls us to flee from our evil desires and instead embrace faith, love, and peace, he makes one important caveat: "with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart."

In order to pursue faith, love and peace to the best of our ability we need other believers in our lives.  We need people to encourage us. We need role models. We need to people to call us on our stuff. We need peers, and mentors, and teachers, and people who believe in us. 

It's popular to think of faith as just an individual thing. It's popular to say things like, "I believe in Jesus but I don't go to church." I think when we do that we are cutting ourselves off from so much of the help we need.

Are you in a church? Are you in a youth group or small group? If not, I would strongly encourage you. Faith is best practiced in community. You need others. And if you are in a church or group, are you invested and involved? The more we lean in, the stronger the help we receive will be!