"Woe to Him Who is Alone."

“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!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ESV)

The Book of Ecclesiastes is attributed to Solomon, and what great wisdom comes from today's scripture. God blessed Solomon with great wisdom; we see it in Ecclesiastes and in Proverbs. This is just another reason the Old Testament is important to today’s Christians.

My Brothers and Sisters, we are not in this is walk with Christ alone. If we are, we should examine ourselves and our faith because the bond of Christianity is important. We all know the words “iron sharpens iron” (Proverbs 27:17), which is true. However, the bond of Christianity goes far deeper than this truth.

There is indeed “one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”(1 Timothy 2:5). We confess our sins to God alone. Yet, there are times when we are crushed in the convictions of our failings. When you sin and are convicted by the Spirit, we feel remorse in our failure before God. Some things impact the severity of this conviction. Where we are with Christ in our walk and the depth of our faith can impact the weight of conviction. Often it is the circumstances in which we have fallen that increase the weight of this conviction.

Our conviction can be an understanding that we have sinned and must repent. However, there are times when the conviction breaks us. The remorse flows in tears, and the recognition of the depth of our sin crushes us. If it occurs in front of others and is recognized, and our Christianity is made public in our failure, it can be embarrassing, and we may feel as though we have cast a shadow on our Lord, tainting all He stands for and what we believe.

We repent our sins to God, but in our brokenness, we can and should turn to others. Hopefully, we all have a Brother or Sister in Christ that we love and trust. One who walks a similar path and has made mistakes in their lives. One we can turn to in our remorse and say, "Hey, I messed up," and will pray with me. One who reminds us of the cross and that our sins, all of them, are nailed to it through Christ.

This is what Solomon is writing about in today’s verses. We are blessed when we are two: brother to Brother, Sister to Sister, or Brother to Sister. They lift us in our sadness as we lift and strengthen them in theirs.

There is a gospel message here, and that is that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. He paid for our sins past, present, and future on the cross, and for all those who come to faith in Him, they receive the free gift of salvation. We are then made children of God. This is a bond that transcends the ordinary family and encompasses the entire church Christ established here on earth. This is why attendance at regular worship services is so important. It is where we meet and come to love these Brothers and Sisters who will help us in our walk with Christ.

You may be like me, with only one or two such trusted brothers or sisters, but praise God we have them. There is nothing more devastating than facing your sin, and being crushed in your depravity, and not having another to lift us up, reminding us of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us on the cross. If you have a brother or sister who has helped you or is helping you in your dark times, thank them and tell them you love them, like I just did.

If you do not know Christ as your Savior, seek Him today. Even in our salvation we still sin and must repent before God, but for those who have not received salvation through faith in Christ alone, there is no hope, no salvation, and an eternity of suffering.

Will you not seek salvation today in Jesus Christ? If you have questions about knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior, reach out to us here at In Messiah Ministries; we can point you to the scriptures that reveal Salvation in Jesus Christ.

Grace and Peace.