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Friendship & Accountability

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Friendship and accountability go hand in hand. True friendship will tell you when you're wrong, or at least make you feel inside that you've missed the mark. That's what we want in Christian friendships. As believers, we want to keep growing in our knowledge of and walk with God. We want the fruits of the Spirit to be increasingly felt and seen in us. Most of all, we want to grow in our faith of God so that we can withstand the pain and hard realities of being humans in a fallen world. For this, we need our Christian community. We need brothers and sisters who will do life with us and become one "fold" in our cord.

The image of verse 12 brings to my mind a mythical story that describes how everyone's life is represented by a golden cord. In the story, when the supposed right time comes, a mythical being cuts a person's cord, and that person dies. I forgot where this myth comes from, but the imagery popped in my mind after reading the description of strong friendships in Ecclesiastes.
And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
Hard times and spiritual forces attack us everyday, trying to "cut" our lifeline, or at least weaken it so that the next time we go through a trial, we snap and fall apart. When we have real Christian friendships, brothers and sisters wrapping their lives around each other's and getting involved in each other's personal space, we become stronger and the forces that try to "prevail" against us become ineffective.

God designs our close relationships with each other so that we are encouraged, supported, and strengthened. With this, we are not quickly broken. I'm reading Ecclesiastes today off the heels of joining a church small group last night, and I'm feeling pretty grateful. I pray we all find Christian friendships that will help us to be strong.

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