![]() ( Religious Affections, 3:10)Īs an unashamed advocate for Christian community, I find Edwards’s observation reasonable and convincing enough. So that if persons appear greatly engaged in social religion, and but little in the religion of the closet, and are often highly affected when with others, and but little moved when they have none but God and Christ to converse with, it looks very darkly upon their religion. T is the nature of true grace, that however it loves Christian society in its place, yet it in a peculiar manner delights in retirement, and secret converse with God. True religion disposes persons to be much alone in solitary places, for holy meditation and prayer.ĭo you “delight at times to retire from all mankind” - in person, in sight, in sound, on screen - “to converse with God in solitary places”? According to Edwards, such is not simply the instinct of the introvert, but a desire God’s Spirit sows in every heart he enlightens. And this also has its peculiar advantages for fixing his heart, and engaging his affections. Here’s how Edwards captured it some 250 years ago:Ī true Christian doubtless delights in religious fellowship, and Christian conversation, and finds much to affect his heart in it but he also delights at times to retire from all mankind, to converse with God in solitary places. One delight, among others, in the born-again heart (which Edwards calls “true religion”) is to prioritize, and create, seasons to be alone with God to hear from him in his word and respond in prayer. So is the vibrant believer with our Lord. One characteristic of healthy, adoring marriages is that husband and wife will see to it that they carve out their time alone together, even with a home full of kids and a revolving door of guests. Just as a marriage will languish if husband and wife are never alone together, so will our union with Christ if our spiritual life has no retreat from community. As Jonathan Edwards expresses, and Scripture exemplifies, one aspect of a Christ-enamored heart is a gnawing ache to get alone with him. “Time alone with God,” as some have called it, is as important as it’s ever been - likely even more so in our age of distraction. In our fresh push for the essential place of community in the Christian life, it is equally essential to remember that the Christian life is not only communal. “One aspect of a Christ-enamored heart is a gnawing ache to get alone with him.” ![]() God’s word challenges and rebukes our post-Enlightenment individualism, page after page, from the beginning, to Abraham’s family and David’s nation, through the ups and downs of prophetic witness, and into the life of Christ and his church.Ĭorporate dynamics in the Christian life are vital, and thankfully a growing chorus of voices in this generation is joining in the ancient refrain of Hebrews 10:25, that we never neglect to meet together. Surely many individualistic modern Christians still need to be awakened to the deep rewards of studying and living Scripture in community. ![]() The Christian life is more than just “Jesus and me.” But it is not less.
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