“It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).
WE ARE CREATED FOR COMMUNITY; we can’t go at life alone. We don’t have the strength, endurance, or wisdom to survive. The enemy, the world, or our weakness will bring us to the end. We need one another. We are created as relational beings made in God’s image. We reflect Him. People are not to be valued for their output, eloquence, or performance, but rather for who they are—the “beloved.”
God meets our needs through a relational community. God will meet our needs either directly, or indirectly through people. We grow while we are in a community. “Nothing is sweet or easy about community. Community is a fellowship of people who do not hide their joys and sorrows but make them visible to each other in a gesture of hope. In community we say: Life is full of gains and losses, joys and sorrows, ups and downs—but we do not have to live it alone. We want to drink our cup together and thus celebrate the truth that the wounds of our individual lives, which seem intolerable when living alone, become sources of healing when we live them as part of a fellowship of mutual care” (Henri Nouwen).
When we live alone, we fall into the trap of relating to people by competing, comparing, counting, and controlling. Rather than using people to meet our needs, we should seek to grow by serving others and meeting their needs.
“The man who lives in a small community lives in a much larger world. . . . The reason is obvious. In a large community we can choose our companions. In a small community our companions are chosen for us. Community is the place where the person you least want to live with always lives. Often we surround ourselves with the people we most want to live with, thus forming a club or clique, not a community. Anyone can form a club, it takes grace, shared vision and hard work to form a community.” — G. K. Chesterton
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Purchase the Entire Devotional – “Experiencing Christ as Life and Leader”
The devotion above was taken from the 52-week Devotional entitled “Experiencing Christ as Life and Leader”.
Many give a mental assent to this teaching yet are often asking, “What do I do? What does Christ as life look like?“ Too often Christians err by moving too far to one side or the other—reducing the Christian life to a list of do’s and don’ts, or they actually do nothing.
These inspiring weekly devotions are just some of the actions that reflect the life of Christ in each of us, and they explore four areas as we follow the One Leader, Jesus Christ –
- A Foundational Focus
- A Personal Focus
- A Relational Focus
- A Missional Focus
Be challenged, encouraged, and spurred on to a deeper walk with Christ.
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