DON’T FIGHT ALONE: How Isolation Keeps Us Stuck in Anxiety and Why Community Helps Us Win Mental BattlesSýnishorn

"I can know God without anyone knowing me."

This statement captures the dangerous lie many of us have believed. It's the idea that we can grow spiritually, overcome our mental battles, and become like Jesus while keeping others at arm's length.

Larry Crabb, a Christian counselor, describes this problem perfectly: "The belief that we can be Christian without being truly known and truly knowing others is a satanic myth designed to encourage living in darkness."

If you haven’t noticed, Western culture encourages rampant individualism. We love our rights, privileges, and freedoms. We don't like anybody telling us what we can or cannot do.

However, this individualism is entirely incongruent with the biblical vision of community. It contradicts the picture of the body that Paul describes in Romans 12:3-5: "For by the grace given to me, I tell everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he should think. Instead, think sensibly, as God has distributed a measure of faith to each one."

If someone from the early church could time-travel to today, they might be more shocked by our individualistic approach to faith than by our technology. The idea of following Jesus alone would be incomprehensible to them!

This individualism is partly why so many of us feel isolated and lonely. In that survey I mentioned yesterday, 70% of respondents said they feel lonelier now than they did a year ago.

Many of us avoid intimacy. How many times do you gather with your church and avoid deep conversations? How many times, when people asked how you were doing, do you just say, "Oh, I'm busy. Things are great"?

There are countless reasons to avoid intimacy. We're terrified of being known. We're comfortable relating to God as an employer rather than a Father. We keep people at a distance because if somebody knew us, they would know enough to hurt us.

This approach makes sense. When you’ve shared something vulnerable, and people have used it to hurt you, you're apprehensive about doing it again. Several years ago, I told a story during a sermon in which I was certainly far from heroic. The story explored my discovery of a bad habit when a friend pointed it out to me. The next day, I got a painful email from a church member who pointed out all the times they’d seen that habit, including how “gratified” they felt when someone else pointed out my failures. I felt broken and considered never sharing anything vulnerable during a message again.

What’s the problem with this path? By avoiding the risk of pain, we also prevent the very connection we need to become like Jesus.

Our spiritual enemy knows this. That's why Satan, described as "a roaring lion seeking someone to devour" in 1 Peter 5:8, targets the isolated. If you've watched nature documentaries, you know lions hunt the weak and isolated members of the herd. When the herd stays together, it's strong. But when individuals get separated, they become vulnerable.

If our enemy can keep us isolated, he can attack us and prevent us from becoming all Christ intended. The path to transformation via renewing our minds runs straight through an experience of community. There is no detour around it.

On the next day of this plan, we’ll examine the area where you need to focus to achieve victories.