Circle Component #5 Series

Circle Check

Pt. 6 - Circle Component 5

I. Introduction

Circles are everywhere. Entertainment. Games. TV Shows, Sports. And in Science.

In his book, The Book of Circles, Manuel Lima when talking about circles says “You see that in different areas of the globe, in different areas of time. You can see there’s some sort of fascination.” “Thousand years ago, he says, the circle infiltrated every area of human knowledge, from architecture and urban planning to linguistics and objects. Today, it remains a dominant form in the world of information design. But that still doesn’t explain its omnipresence. He says "We know that humans are more attracted to curvilinear shapes than angular shapes, something backed by several recent studies. “It goes back to primitive roots in nature, where most shapes are curvilinear,” he says. “They’re softer, they provide some safety, as opposed to angular shapes–the teeth of an animal, the hard shape of a rock. Those are signifiers of danger.”

So, you can't escape circles. And of course, circles is another way of saying relationships.

We instinctively seem to know that our circle determines our course. Our friends determine our future. We agree that those close matter most.

We have declared that we must know how a circle is supposed to function. If we don't, then we either never fully tap into or harness the benefit of a circle or we exit or sabotage the circle available to us because we are unwilling to pay the price of transparency, vulnerability and submit to accountability that is necessary for the circle to be meaningful. The result is we either suffer in isolation while we call it independence, or we hop in and out of circles, groups, or churches looking for fruit that we so desperately desire and even envy. However, we never recognize that this fruit can only be obtained and secured through intentional and long-term investment of time. So, in time of need, distress, pain we blame everyone who doesn't respond for being shallow or uncaring or we silently wonder why our relationships lack the roots necessary to sustain us.

If we know function, we then have appropriate expectations and demands. There are some things we should expect from our circle and if the circle doesn't provide these things, then we must either demand and develop it in the circle or we need to do a circle check to determine if it may be time for a circle change. As we work through this, I want to encourage you to do a circle check. I caution you again . . . the tendency is to ask this appropriate question . . . Is my circle doing this for me? However, if we are not careful, then we will fail to ask the equally crucial question . . . Am I doing this for my circle?

So, I informed you that right in plain sight in Scripture there are 59 different "one another" statements giving us circle coaching. Then at closer examination, I discovered that all of these statements can be clustered into 6 components wrapped around one core component.

We have stated that the core component around which the other 6 components orbit is . . . love.

17 different and distinct occasions out of the 59 statements is the instruction to love another. 28% of the list is a command to love one another.

We dealt with one of the most difficult of the orbiting components which was Confess/Forgive.

In a safe circle, we are able to confess and forgive. If we don't confess, then we cannot be healed or whole. We must find confidential and careful circles where the circle mates are aware of their own need for forgiveness so that we can confess, be met with grace and together dislodge the sin and struggles of our life. If our church can be made up of circles like this, then our church will always be a bastion of grace for those who are wounded and broken.

The second orbiting component that must be a part of our circle was serve. Serving one another keeps us circled. Serving is about seeing needs and filling them knowing that as we do this others are seeing our needs and meeting those. The third orbiting component was that we must pray for one another. Praying for one another is only mentioned 1 time directly compared to the 8 times we are told to serve. Our prayers can't be a cop out for serving. Prayer should accompany our service, not substitute for it! We must learn to invite God to do what only He can do while we do what we can do! As we pray, we correctly carry one another's burdens. And last week, the fourth component was encourage. We have been instructed to encourage one another daily so that we will have hope and live holy!