Daily Wisdom

Eph 4:16 “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”

God never intended for any of us to live the Christian life alone. At the mere mention of the word community though, people often eye you as if you’re an intruder in their life. To avoid thinking about community simply because we misunderstand it will deprive us of one of God’s greatest gifts. The idea of community is, in a sense, from another world, a world very unlike our own. Community is from the world as God wants it to be. It is the gift of a rich and challenging life together, one that we need and can receive with joy.

Christian community is the sharing a common life in Christ. It moves us beyond the self-interested isolation of private lives and beyond the superficial social contacts that pass for "Christian fellowship." The biblical ideal of community challenges us instead to commit ourselves to life together as children of God.

We know all too well that maturity takes time. We know less well that it also takes our sisters and brothers in Christ. It’s a process that is revealed in the "each other" language of the New Testament: Love one another, forgive each other, regard each other more highly than yourselves (Phl 2:3).  Teach and correct each other, encourage each other, pray for each other, and bear each other’s burdens (Gal 6:2). Be friends with one another, kind, compassionate, and generous in hospitality. Serve one another and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Eph 5:21). This list just scratches the surface, but it is enough to remind us that we need the community of faith to grow up in Christ.

Christian community is the place of our continuing sanctification. Its goal is that, individually and together, we should mature (Gen 17:1), able to stand tall and straight with and among each other, embodying the very "fullness of Christ" as ambassadors to and for each other.

Sadly, to the world, Christian appear most skilled at shooting their own.

A Christians relationship with each other is the criteria the world uses to judge whether our message is truthful – Christian community is the final apologetic (defense) of God’s love… HSAY