A few days ago someone asked me how I would describe my maturity level as a Christian. Strangely enough, my first thought was of Paul referring to the Corinthians as infants in Christ, not yet ready to eat solid food.
As I thought about how I should answer the question, my mind filled with thoughts of my inconsistent efforts in my pursuit to be more Christ-like.
How could I claim to be any different from the Corinthians when I lacked discipline in my own devotional life? This question remained on my mind for some time and sparked a great deal of introspection.
I was aware that God didn't expect us to be perfect, but I felt as though I was not doing as much as I could to improve.
After tiring myself out with a ridiculous amount of thinking, I did what I should have done first - I prayed. In my frustration I asked God to take away my free will because I was a wretched human being unable to get things right.
Nothing of the sort occurred; however I began to randomly come into contact with other Christians around my age. Soon I was surrounded by a group of young people all of whom I could speak to freely about everything that I was struggling with in my daily Christian life.
Oftentimes these were the same things that they were struggling with and so we were able to laugh about our ridiculous prayers, give advice to one another and actually pray for each other.
No Man is an Island
We were bearing each others burdens and the load became so much lighter. For the first time I understood the great importance of fellowship with other believers regardless of where either person is in their journey.
Both in one on one and group conversations with other Christians around my age, I found that the most popular statement was "Don't judge me but", and I always laughed because I knew that right after the 'but' was always a situation that I could relate to.
There was never judgment because we were all aware of the fact that these taboo thoughts and actions were familiar to each of us and needed to be talked about.
The formation of these relationship evolved into a network of persons making an effort to be accountable for each other. To ensure that we were reading the word daily, to talk about what we read, to share the events of a bad day, to keep each other out of trouble and to pray for each other.
This sort of relationship used to seem extremely annoying to me, especially because I prided myself in being able to handle things on my own. However having experienced this I am more than happy to cast that method behind me.
To allow others to help me with my notoriously heavy backpack and to help them with theirs.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is effective."
James chapter 5 verse 16
Danielle Jones was born on the beautiful island of Barbados to phenomenal parents. She is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Arts in Drama as a part of a joint programme between the University of the West Indies, Mona and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in Jamaica. She hopes to speak fluent Spanish someday, hopes to do global missionary work and spread the love of Christ.
Danielle Jones' previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/danielle-jones.html