Community:  One of God's Greatest Gifts

God did not call me to a man or to a denomination.  He called me to Himself.  The invitation has always been to have relationship with Him. 

What does this call, this invitation, involve?  Most importantly, this call involves loving Him and all that He is with all that I am and all that I have.  Secondly, it involves loving all that He loves which includes EVERYONE.

My relationship with Him calls me into relationship with those He loves.  Thus, I am called to community.  I was created for community.  I was created to walk and talk and be with Him every day of my life.

After studying Jesus' model of community with His disciples, I realized that there are some lessons that unfortunately cannot be learned at home with family.  Yes, family is extremely important.  And yes, their influence in our lives is profound.  And yes, we are to live as Jesus lived in our homes.  However, there are lessons that we simply learn only among our peers.

Being involved in a community of believers affords me an opportunity to live the way Jesus taught us to live.  There, I see the living, breathing grace and character of God come alive.  If I can live like Jesus there, I can live it anywhere.

Between Jesus' death and the absolute Last Day, we have the opportunity . . . no, the privilege . . . no, the blessing to live in community with other believers.  Sadly, we too often do not recognize this relationship with other believers as what it is - a gift.  More often than not, we take these relationships for granted or deny that we need them.

How blessed it is to sing together.  How blessed it is to pray together.  How blessed it is to support one another.  How blessed it is to share a meal with each other, to laugh with each other, to remember the goodness and faithfulness and miracles and mystery of God.  We just don't know the true value of something or someone until we no longer have it or until he is gone.

Relationship with other believers is the grace of God upon us.  It is one of the ways God strengthens and enables us to stand and be His people.  My brother or sister's whisper of encouragement in my ear is nothing but the sweet breath of God.

Are you looking for the prophetic?  They are those around you and me who speak the precious words of God.  Are you looking for the healers?  They are those sitting around you and me week after week with arms that hug and mouths that pray.  

Yes, Holy Spirit, the breath and soul of Jesus and Father God, does the actual work, but He prefers to use vessels of flesh and blood to make the connection.  We are but His conduits in this world.

Are you looking for a miracle?  What could be more of a miracle than God changing the heart of someone and then transforming that unique individual into someone who becomes a part of a diverse group of people whose lives have been radically changed by His love and who in turn unconditionally embrace all who walk through their doors and those with whom they come in contact?  That ragtag group of people is Christ's living, breathing body.

Today, many people say, "God called me to . . ."  Maybe He did; maybe He didn't.  That's between Him and them.  However, after fifty-something years of being a believer (some years I believed more than others), I cannot escape the thought that our highest call is to love Him with everything we are and have and to love what He loves.

What does God love?  He loves His son, and He loves the world because He sent His son so that the world would no longer be separated from Him but could be saved.  Jesus opened the door so that we could be reconciled to the Father and have relationship with Him.  God also loves what Jesus loves; Jesus loves His bride, His church.  Therefore, I am called to love God, to love Jesus, to love the people in the world, and to love the church, His bride.

I am so thankful that Jesus has a body of believers here in this world.  It is in this community that I learn and am equipped to go out and love the world to Jesus.  It is in this community that I am healed physically and emotionally and strengthened and encouraged to be what He desires me to be.  It is in this community that I feel the safety to try something new because failure is no longer a four-letter word.  In this community, the Beatitudes become alive, and I learn how to show mercy and be humble, how to comfort and rejoice, how to long for justice and purity, how to be a peacemaker.  In this place, I begin to know who I really am and what the purpose of my life really is.  In this place, I know forgiveness, for I am both the forgiven one and the forgiving one.

Thank you, Father God,

for Jesus and for Holy Spirit.

Thank you for Your mercy, love, grace, and patience.

Thank You for those You've placed around me,

family and otherwise,

who love me as You do"just as I am"

and who love me enough to speak Your words of truth into my life.

Thank You for Your gift of community and all the "gracelings" that travel with it.

May I, may we,

never take You or Your community of believers for granted.

May we be the ambassadors of Your kingdom in this world today.