Community {A linkup}

I am so pleased to be able to link up with this group of bloggers again - My experience with them so far has been encouraging and I am praying that it will continue to be that for everyone who is involved this month. (Make sure to click the button above and visit all the great ladies!)

Today, the linkup revolves around the idea of community. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 says:

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.

For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.

But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone

 And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him,

a threefold cord is not quickly broken"

I really could stop right there and say, yep! That's community in a nutshell! But, where would the fun be in that? ;) 

To me, thinking of the verses above and others found in the bible, community means not being alone, not trying to do things alone; but allowing people into your life and purposefully looking to be involved in others lives, Opening yourself up to relationships even if you might get hurt, team work — specifically among the body of Christ. 

Obviously this takes effort. We all know deep down that this Christian walk was not meant to be done alone. I mean, just look at the New Testament. So many verses point to being in community, to being a family; to meet together and encourage one another. 

 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some,

But encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Hebrews 10:24-25

Yet somehow, at least I know for myself, it seems a lot easier just to trudge on alone, not getting others involved in our issues and not involving ourselves in theirs. After all, it's too easy to get hurt when you make yourself vulnerable like that, right? But that is not how we are called to live! How can we possibly be the body of Christ by ourselves?? The eye can't say to the hand, I don't need you! Just read the passage below-

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all

were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together;

If one member is honored, all rejoice together.

1st Corinthians 12:12-26

So, just like a body, none of us can do this without the other, and no part is greater or more important than another. That is community.

One thing that I want to say, is that we can only have true community with other believers. Yes, we can and should still spend time with unbelievers, invite them into our lives and care about theirs, show them love and seek to be the light of Christ in their lives by serving them (we are called to that as well). But, light cannot not be yoked with darkness and that goes for community as well. There must always be a difference for us when spending time with believers versus unbelievers. Believers should have a bond that someone who does not know Christ cannot have with us - God can use that to catch their attention, to cause them to desire what we have. 
Sometimes the difference might be hard to figure out, but all we can do is pray, follow the leading of the Hoy Spirit, and living out the word of God. 

So, what does community look like for you? For me, I have to be honest, it doesn't always look like it should or what I want it to be. There are some things that I've experienced that can make me wary and I am naturally more of an introvert. Not trying to make excuses, (maybe I am...) but those things can be stumbling blocks for me. I want to be someone who is purposeful about knowing my family in Christ. Someone who offers help even when I'm not asked, who invites others to join in my triumphs and failures, who shows love to everyone I am around, who seeks humility and putting others first. I am a work in progress, but isn't that what community is?

Until next time...