Day 13 | GROW - Be in COMMUNITY

Today’s Scripture:

“So we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.” - Romans 12:5

Full Scripture Reading: Romans 12: 1-8

Today’s Thought: 

We know that God never intended for any of us to live the Christian life alone. 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 togethers, one that we need and can receive with joy. 

Christian community is simply 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 idea of community challenges us instead to comment ourselves to life together as the people of God. 

The process of community is revealed in the “each other” language of the New Testament: Love one another, forgive each other, regard each other more highly than yourselves. Teach and correct one another, encourage each other, pray for each other, and bear each other’s burdens. Be friends with one another, kind, compassionate, and generous in hospitality. Serve one another and submit to one another out of reverence for Christ. 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. 

In our scripture from Romans 12:5, it states, “so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members of another.” Here is another example of how Christian community is simply sharing a common life in Christ. God created us to be so united as to be mutually dependent; each one is of service to the other; and the existence and function of the one is necessary to the usefulness of the other. The members of the body may be said to be members one of another; as the feet could not, for example, perform this function or be of use if it were not for the eye. In community, every individual is not only necessary in their places as an individual, but is needful for the good and action of the whole. 

Who is your community? How do you function in your community? Do you create space for the attributes listed above? Do you struggle with the attributes listed above? Are you contributing in a way that is for the good of the community?

Today’s Prayer: 

Let us pray.

Lord, we lift up our lives to you knowing that we need you in every part of our life. We need you as we continue to grow in your word, in your service, in your hope of how we can love our neighbors each and every day. Lord, we pray that you would help us to find our community and show up. Helps us to daily work to adhere to the attributes of a Christian community–doing all things for the good of the whole. When we fall short or wander, help us to find our way back. Grow us faithfully to love as you do, unconditionally and always with hope in what is to come! We lift this prayer to you, and all God's People Said, AMEN.