Have you been out much lately? Just when we thought the word “quarantine” was moving to the disused column of our vocabulary, here it is again. My four siblings and I, like all children of forty or more years ago, were all carrier monkeys of chicken pox, measles, mumps, scarlet fever and other diseases. My parents would count the days after interaction with a sick friend to see if I was infected and . . . voila! The red bumps would appear. It seemed next to impossible to isolate us to prevent the rest of the siblings from being infected, especially since my three brothers and I always shared the same bedroom.
With today’s social distancing, most of us are becoming experts at the old joke, “He’s so ugly I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole.” Substitute “infected” for “ugly.” Actually, with this issue, that has developed in recent decades, many have already become more distant than before. Electronic media has led to the growth in the number of folks who rely more on communication through some modern means than on face-to-face contact. At first, society said, “What’s the difference?” but now we are seeing its effects on the socially immature; and there are a lot of them.
For example, think of what the ability to criticize, or even threaten, others online anonymously, has done to our society. You can’t “face your accusers” because you don’t know who they are! What are the results of that?
Truth is, we all need good friends; and friendship is nurtured by spending real time with others. If non-verbal communication makes up 70% of our relationships, many of us are missing out on something from our acquaintances!
Consider Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; but how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (NKJV).
The closest and most meaningful friendships can be found in “the general assembly and church of the Firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23). Christians “help” each other “up” simply by following God’s directive, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb. 10:24-25).
Sure, the ability to do that has been harmed in recent months, but we dare not forget the very practical benefits of getting together to worship our heavenly Father, to study from His word, and even just to enjoy our common bond in His Son. We all could use some stirring up to love and good works.
Jeff Greene, minister for the South Stokes Church of Christ