Day 15

Known, Not Just Around

2 min read

Thought of the day

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Think about how many people you actually interact with in a week . . . co-workers . . . people at your kid's practice . . . neighbors . . . people at the gym. Add in everyone you scroll past online, and it's possible to "know" about someone's vacation, kitchen remodel, or new job from people you've never actually sat across from at a table.

We might be the most connected generation in history, and also one of the most isolated. Being around people, and being known by people, are not the same thing. You can sit in a room full of familiar faces and still carry something heavy completely alone.

Paul describes something similar before Jesus entered the picture. He tells the Ephesians to remember when they were "separate from Christ... foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world" (Ephesians 2:12). That's not just spiritual distance. That's the ache of being on the outside, unknown, unattached, without a people to call your own.

Here's a question worth sitting with today: who actually knows what you're worried about right now? Not who knows your name, your job or your kids' schedules. Who knows what keeps you up at night? Who could look at you and say, "I know you're saying that you're fine, but you're not. What's going on?"

If nobody comes to mind quickly, that's worth noticing; not with shame, but with honesty. Many of us have gotten remarkably good at being around people while managing exactly how much they actually get to see.

Today, don't just count the people around you. Ask a harder question: who's actually being let in? Jesus didn't just come to save you from something. He came to bring you into something . . . a people . . . a family.

Prayer prompt

Ask God to show you honestly whether you've been living around people without letting yourself be known by them. Thank Him that He already knows everything you're carrying, even the parts you manage carefully with others. Ask Him to show you one person that you could allow a little closer this week.

ScriptureNIV

Ephesians 2:11-12

Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Genesis 2:18

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.