Since Someone Among You Is Struggling

(upbeat music) - Hey, and welcome back to Journey with Jesus. This is Johnny Singh, your host and author, and I appreciate you giving a little bit of your time today as you listen or read to today's reflection. Since someone among you is struggling. For as long as I can remember, my dad had what we would call shaking legs. He would bounce his feet while paying close attention to something or when he was drifted off after a long day of work. It was a habit that suited him. He rocked me the same way when I was small and somehow that feeling stuck with me. I still do it today without thinking about it. When Priya and I got married, the habit came with me. She would fall asleep beside me while I rock my legs. And it became this quiet rhythm we both knew. When I was preaching full time, she often sat alone in worship because I was teaching, leading, praying, or doing something upfront. So when we later moved to a congregation where we could finally sit together again, it felt like a gift. We could hold hands, sing side by side, bow in prayer as one. I have not taken that for granted. The funny part is that the same habit that calmed her to sleep at home became the thing that distracted her the most in worship. She takes handwritten notes. I use my phone, I focus, my leg starts going. And pretty soon, I am accidentally shaking her too. Every so often, her hand quietly lads on my leg, which means stop shaking. Last Sunday during the sermon, she did it again, and I caught myself thinking about how something so small and personal to me could spill over into someone else's face. Not in a harmful way, but enough to be felt. She would never call it an inconvenience, but it made me reflect on how her own habits, struggles, and little quirks, sometimes or oftentimes, show up in shared spaces. That is when my mind went back to the book of James. About a year ago, I studied it closely, but certain parts feel louder now than they did then, especially the questions in James 5. In English, they read like possibilities. In the original language, they read more like realities. James chapter 5 verse 13 begins with, is anyone among you suffering, but it can just as faithfully read, sin someone among you is suffering. And that changes how you hear it. James is not imagining a chance. He is acknowledging a fact. In any church family, someone is suffering, someone is cheerful, someone is sick, someone is spiritually weak, someone needs prayer, someone is carrying shame, someone is carrying a burden that no one else sees. These are not hypotheticals. They are present realities every time we gather. And even with a common faith, we do not walk into the room with the same emotional temperature. We carry different stories, different battles, and different weights. Before moving forward, I inserted a picture into the article that I took that morning while listening to the sermon. If you cared to take a look of it, you can. It made me realize that in worship, in community and in life, there is a difference between a greenwood scripture and actually living it out. We might all believe, Glacian chapter six verse two, but living it out requires patience, gentleness, and room for each other's humanity. It means accepting that worship is a shared space filled with people who are trying, hurting, healing, and growing. Wheatness is not a disruption. Struggle is not a distraction, sorrow is not a nuisance. These are the sounds of a family learning the rhythm of grace. As I thought about it more, four passages came to mind in my study. They each call us to something deeper, something compassionate, and something active. Romans chapter 12 verse 15 says, rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. Some of us bring celebration into the room. Other spring quiet pain. God calls us to match the moment with love. Glacian chapter six verse two says, bear one another's burdens and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. There is more than empathy here. It is participation. It is stepping into someone else's weight so they do not carry it alone. James chapter five or 16 says confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed. Healing grows where honesty is safe. James reminds us that sin loses its power when confession gains courage. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 says, let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Consider means to pause, observe, and respond thoughtfully. It calls us to intentional kindness, not accidental support. All of this brings me back to my shaken legs in the church view. It reminds me that people around us are not inconveniences. They are reminded is that we belong to each other. The church is not a place where strong people gather. It is a place where people gather to meet a strong savior. And if we learn to give each other room, patience, and presence, then the things that shake us may become the very things that strengthen us. Here's a closing invitation. Thank you. Thank you for spending this time with me. And if anything in this reflection encouraged you, challenged you, or simply helped you to feel a little bit more seen in your walk of faith, I am grateful. That is why I write and keep showing up in this small corner of the internet. If you would like to support the work by helping me to keep sharing these studies, stories, and devotionals, I have a simple increase that is by me a coffee. No pressure at all. It is just an open door if you feel moved to help. You should know, by me a coffee does not necessarily mean you are actually by me a coffee. It is instead a platform where you can contribute to help me in any way. Your support, whether through prayers, or sharing this article or contributing in any way means more than you know. Thank you. Thank you for walking this journey with me. And until next time, bye-bye. (upbeat music)