Page 19 - October 2026 - Truth & Tidings

uring his imprisonment in several before (just look at our social media friend
different German concentration counts), but in reality we have become in-
Dcamps in the 1940s, Dietrich creasingly isolated. The Bible warns of the
Bonhoeffer completely lost contact with danger of isolation, the danger of having
the outside world. Because he was trans- no friends. When it comes to friendship
ferred so often during his imprisonment, mathematics, Scripture clearly states that
he could not even maintain contact with two are better than one. One friend is bet-
the other Christians he met while impris- ter than none. But why?
oned. He declared that he had lost the
most precious thing he possessed – fellow- No Friends Means There Is No
ship. Christian fellowship and friendship One to Encourage You
were so precious and vital to his life that If we are honest, we all need a helping
in the years before his imprisonment and hand from time to time. We fall down, we
eventual execution, he wrote a book called mess up, we make mistakes, we are still
Life Together. In it he said, “The physical living in a fallen world with the flesh so
presence of other Christians is a source ever present in each of us. As a result, the
of incomparable joy and strength to the worst thing we can do is disengage from
believer, a physical sign of the gracious others who can relate to our struggles. Sol-
presence of the triune God. How inex- omon makes us think of both sides of the
haustible are the riches that open up for coin when it comes to isolating ourselves
those who by God’s will are privileged away. If we have even just one faithful
to live in the daily fellowship of life with friend, one caring companion, when we
other Christians.” He wrote, “Let him
who has such a privilege thank God on fall down, we have someone there to hold
his knees and declare it is grace, nothing out the hand and lift us up. The help can
but grace, that we are allowed to live in be manifested in a number of ways, from
fellowship with Christians.” physical and financial help to the lending
of a spiritual hand to pick us up if we have
Many of us may not hold as strongly to fallen away from what God desires for us
the same conviction that he had. In a digi- in our lives. “Two are better than one … for
tally and technologically advanced age, if they fall, one will lift up his companion”
we think we have everything we need in- (Ecc 4:9-10). But Scripture goes further;
1
side the safety and comfort of our homes. it not only pronounces the blessing and
As a result, we isolate more, we don’t seek
community and we become loners. We 1 Bible quotations in this article are from the
may think we have more friends than ever NKJV.
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