Where My Island People At?

I have often said that people who stay to themselves are consumed by themselves. This is just another way of saying that if you purposefully stay in your own little world and choose not to interact with anyone else, for whatever reason, your problems will seem to multiply exponentially. Little problems will always seem like big problems. Everything will be major. Anger and frustration will become your best friends. I call this kind of person an island person. Very rarely are visitors allowed on your island.

My Pastor often tells our congregation that you cannot fully grow spiritually the way God intended for you to grow in a non-corporate environment. You can grow up to a certain point, however at some particular point in time your growth will stop. We were created to be relational beings. We were never meant to live life completely alone. This is demonstrated in three very visual cinematic examples that most of us may be somewhat familiar with:

1) Scrooge. He was an old man who was financially wealthy but relationally poor. He, to a certain degree, hated people. In order for him to see the damage that his perspective on life had caused he had to be shown himself through the eyes of his past, present and future.
2) The Grinch. The Grinch had been mistreated as a child because he was different from the other Who’s in Whoville. As a result, he hated people and separated himself far away from everyone in Whoville. It was the love of a little girl that defrosted his frozen hardened heart and showed him how important people were to his life.
3) The movie Cast Away starring Tom Hanks. This was a man, by no fault of his own, who was stranded on an island in a plane crash. The loneliness nearly drove him crazy. It got so bad that he ended up creating his very own friend so he could have someone to talk to. He painted a face on the soccer ball and named it Wilson. He just needed someone to talk to.

All three of these examples might be fictional characters, however they all point back to a very real issue of isolation and separation void of human relationships. Community is just that important to us all, especially believers. If we are to truly grow spiritually, we have to do it in the midst of community. Being an island person will not benefit your spiritual growth. It is a ploy of the enemy to convince you that you are better off on your own. He thrives in this kind of environment. We don’t.

Points to ponder:

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 (ESV) – Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him – a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Galatians 6:2 (ESV) – Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

I almost forgot. The most important example of community in the Bible is the relationship between God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God is all about community.