We need a community....

A community is a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the  larger society within which it exists.

For the last few weeks I have been reflecting on some interesting thoughts which I thought would help someone else reflect and learn as well...

Spiritual muscles are often developed in the context of a community. People who remain connected with their brothers and sisters in the local church almost invariably grow in self-understanding, and they mature in their ability to relate in healthy ways to God and to their fellow Christians. This is especially the case for those who are courageous and stick it out through the often messy process of interpersonal discord and conflict resolution.

People who stay grow, People who leave do not grow and if they grow, not much. We all might know people who are consumed with spiritual wanderlust, but you never get to know them very well because probably they cannot seem to stay put. They move along from church to church, ever searching for a congregation that will better satisfy their felt needs. Like trees repeatedly transplanted from soil to soil, they fail to put down roots and seldom experience lasting and fruitful growth in their Christian lives.

Others leave to avoid working through uncomfortable or painful relations with others in the church family. Truth is running away does provide immediate relief from the awkwardness of a hurtful relationship. It is the easy way out in the short term, and there are legitimate reasons to leave a local church. But people who leave to escape the hard work of conflict resolution are often destined to repeat the cycle of relational dysfunction with another person in another church somewhere else.

I have found it to be a simple but profound biblical reality that we both grow and thrive together or, we do not grow at all.

• Why do we so often sabotage our most intimate relationships?

• Why do we seek help from others only after the damage is irreversible, and continue to try to find our way through life as isolated individuals, convinced somehow that God will remain with us to lead us and bless us wherever we go?

• Why do we sometimes operate as if our own immediate happiness is of greater value than the redemptive relationships God has placed us in?

• Why are we seemingly unable to stay in relationships, stay in a community, and grow in the interpersonal contexts that God has provided for our temporal and eternal well-being?

There is no relationship that God places us in by mistake, we all need one another.

SELAH....