And let us not neglect our meeting together…

I recently took a couple of weeks off from work over Christmas and New Years to spend time with my mother and sister in India. My wife was with me. We were surrounded by family—uncles, aunties, cousins—people I grew up with and deeply love. They were genuinely happy to see me. The days were full of warmth, conversations, shared meals, and familiar memories. Yet, beneath all that happiness, something heavy settled in my heart. None of them knows the Lord.

They worship Hindu gods and visit temples. They live content lives and treated me with love and joy. I love them dearly—they are my family—but the thought that they are living without Christ began to trouble me deeply. The idea that they would perish without knowing Him gnawed at my heart day and night.

As the days passed, another struggle quietly grew. I had no fellowship with other believers. No shared prayer. No worship. No spiritual conversations that pointed me back to Christ. Slowly, I began to feel like a lonely believer. That loneliness did something unexpected—it weakened me. Questions I had never seriously wrestled with before began to rise: Why would God allow my own family to perish eternally? Why do so many people live without Christ and seem so happy? Why doesn’t God answer my prayers and save my mother and sister? Why do people without the Lord appear content, while I feel burdened and restless continuously battling my own flesh?

I walked the streets and saw millions of people living life—laughing, working, loving their families—without any visible awareness of Christ. And strangely, while they seemed happy, I was not. My faith felt thin. The joy I normally carried felt distant.

This is what spiritual isolation does. Faith was never meant to be lived out alone. God did not design believers to walk in isolation, surrounded by unbelief without support. When fellowship is missing, doubts grow louder. When worship is silent, the heart grows weary.

Thankfully, my wife was with me. Her presence became a quiet anchor, one praying believer beside me and a faithful voice reminding me of truth when my own heart felt unsettled. Through her, God gently sustained me, and that’s when something became very clear to me—the reason Scripture urges us not to neglect meeting together. Fellowship is not a religious routine, but a spiritual lifeline. We don’t gather because we are strong; we gather because we are weak. We don’t meet because life is easy; we meet because faith is often tested.

When believers come together, doubts can be spoken instead of hidden, faith is strengthened through shared hope, burdens are carried together, hearts are reminded of eternal truth. When fellowship is absent, even mature believers can struggle.

God’s silence does not mean absence. His delay does not mean indifference. We may not understand how His justice and mercy meet, but we can trust that He is righteous, compassionate, and faithful.

This painful experience reminded me of something I must never forget: I need the body of Christ. Faith needs regular nourishment. Isolation weakens even seasoned believers. Fellowship keeps us anchored when questions rage. And that is exactly why God says, “Do not neglect meeting together.” Because sometimes faith doesn’t falter because we have stopped believing—it weakens because we have stopped being surrounded.

Lord, thank You for the gift of fellowship. Strengthen me when I feel alone. Help me love my family deeply, trust You fully, and remain faithful even when my heart is heavy. Amen.

By Santosh Chandran, Bible League International staff, New Zealand