We hear all the time about how people self-medicate. We shake our heads and say that it is a shame that they can't deal with whatever the hurt is in their life in a more appropriate manner. Why is it that it is so easy to turn to something else when the hurt is so bad. "Well, if I do this activity, then the pain from the last activity will be diminished." What incredible, logical thinking that is! What is strange (ok, sad) is the amount of self-medicating Christians that there are. Now I'm not talking about taking drugs, alcohol, food or sex to self-medicate. What I'm talking about is the abandonment of the body when you get hurt. We fall into a false belief that we can teach our self at home and all will be ok. The hurt will go away if I just run away. I can't imagine trying to heal the hurt by trying to teach yourself. This is the same confused logic of taking a drug to make past hurts go away! Satan has been good at convincing us that we can abandon public teachings and the family of God, and still stay healthy in our walk with Christ. See, there is a strength in numbers. There is a healing that can only take place if we stick with each other. In Deuteronomy 32:30, which is usually taken out of context, it says that one can put 1,000 to flight and two 10,000 to flight. This is a statement of what the enemy can do to us when we do not have the power of God in our lives! It doesn't take as much work for the enemy to scatter us if we are trying to walk in our own power. And guess what, we walk in our own power when we run from the body of Christ and ignore public teachings. Yes, you can argue that we can use the TV, internet or CD's, but how easy is it to drift toward the teachings that 'tickle our ear'? Ephesian chapter 4, as well as other areas, talk about the importance of unity in the body. And to have true unity, we must actually be together. Teaching yourself only, or self-medicating, will not accomplish the unity that the body of Christ is suppose to have. And, if you have been so hurt by the family of God, and unfortunately it happens, that you can't go back to that part of the family...then go somewhere! But complete isolation or self-medicating is not healthy. Just as we would tell others that it is not safe to cover up their hurt with harmful substances or actions, I believe God is saying the same thing to us a followers of His Son, Jesus.