we need to live in community

Today’s devotion is from one of my reading plans yesterday that I am reading with a couple guys. This one spoke to me and about the reason we started our church over 13 years ago. As you read this ask yourself how you are connected in community.

Why do we need community?

What if we just one-anothered one another better? — Andy Stanley

From the beginning of creation, being alone was never the plan. So, God did something about that by creating fellowship for humans.

That’s where community comes in.

So, what is community? As Christ followers, community is having meaningful relationships where we do life together by sharing, encouraging, serving, forgiving, and chasing faithfully after God.

Community is where we can be our true selves with others. It is our safe place; the place where we can share our greatest accomplishments and joys as well our darkest moments and failures. It is where we show up in each other’s lives for the magnificent and the mundane. It is knowing and being known deeply. It is pursuing God and growing into the best version of ourselves for His glory. It is fighting the good fight and helping those around us fight it as well.

The Bible is clear on so many things, and one of them is that we are to love others. There are 59 verses in the New Testament that tell us how to treat one another. Here are several of the one-anothers we are called to:

- serve one another (Galatians 5:13)

- honor one another (Philippians 2:3)

- encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13)

- pray for one another (James 5:16)

- instruct one another (Romans 15:14)

- forgive one another (Ephesians 4:32)

We can’t one-another one another if we are living our lives in solitude. Not only that, but we will ache from the void that godly relationships fill. When we choose to alienate ourselves from others, one-anothering people is beyond our reach. We will miss out on the richness that deep friendships can offer to others and bring to ourselves.

John 13:34-35 NLT

'So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”'

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Michael Harrison's e-devotion

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