Part 1: Why is community so important?
Have you ever been sad, down or even depressed? Have you ever had problems in your life? I'm going to take a wild guess and say that yes, you have, like every other person on this planet. Am I right?
Now, have you ever had a friend who'se been down, or sad, or had problems in their life? Have you ever tried to help, or wanted to try to help a friend because you care about them?
Can I take a wild guess and assume that you could honestly say yes to every question I have asked in this article so far?
Ever since Eve took that cursed fruit and ate it off of the tree in the garden, giving into temptation, we've lived in the aftereffects of her decision. We live in a fallen world ridden with problems and sin, which is apparent in everything and sadly, every aspect of our lives. No person can live without the evidence of the Fall in their lives or the lives that surround them. This manifests itself in every part of life, and every human on Earth is faced with many hardships, such as sickness, death, conflict, poverty, abuse,... It looks different in everyone's life, but everyone has something people sometimes like to call PROBLEMS. The world is a very dark, difficult place to live, and life sometimes feels bleak. Things are thrown our way we don't understand, and it's just hard.
Around a year ago, an immediate family member of mine was diagnosed with cancer. When I found out, I didn't understand. I already knew that God was taking my family and I away from my host country a few months after, and then that? I couldn't help but ask "why, God?". It felt like I was loosing everything. I didn't know how bad it would be, or if we were going to loose that person, for the first few weeks, and we returned to the States that Christmas.
The thing is, God doesn't leave us here on Earth to just deal with our problems. I slowly learned that through all that happened last year. He knew that Adam and Eve would choose to sin, but He also loved them enough to give them free will, even if it broke His heart. God had a back up plan, and gave us things to help lessen the pain, and help us persevere through the trials of life.
First of all, he sent His son down on earth to die for our sins and give us a way out of dying because of our sin. Instead, we can have eternal life if we believe in his son and turn from our sin! On top of this, He is with us, every step of the way, every second of every day, through His Holy Spirit, giving us the strength to face our problems- and a deep, unexplainable, joy that surpasses our circumstances. When I found out about my family member's illness, when I moved to the country where I am currently, through deaths of family members, through many extremely hard things, He has been there and is faithful. When we lean on Him, we can face the day and whatever come sour way.
Yet, God doesn't stop there. He also gives us this amazing thing called community: other believers that you can relate to and that you can encourage or be encouraged by, as well as with whom you can spur each other on towards God. Community is the church. It's the believers that you get to interact and connect with, that you get to love on and pour yourself into. It's those people that drop by and check on you when you're sick, the people that shoot you a text and double check if you were ok during youth group because they thought you seemed kind of off. It's the people that pray for you, and with you, and lovingly call you out when you get out of line. It's that group of friends that you know you can ask for prayer no matter what time of day or night. It's your pastor, your elders, the man that always sits on the fourth row, your Sunday school teacher, your friends, that new girl you barely know, and the lady who asks you how you are doing every Sunday.
Community is this amazing beautiful thing that changes your life. The people that are a part of the communities I have been over the years have been used by God in my life to show me different things and help me get to where I am today, as well as become who I am today.
Why is it so important?, you ask? Community is important because together, we are stronger. As fellow Christians, we get to encourage each other and spur each other on to persevere, together standing strong. Honestly? I could not have made it through the past 6 months with my faith stil intact without community, much less the past year.
Paul says in Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Let us do so, and encourage one another in our community as we meet together, especially as the world continues to deteriorate and the day of the Lord's return approaches!
I hope that you guys have a most amazing rest of your Sunday! Don't forget to send in submissions for the photography contest, whose theme this year is friendship! Can I or another member of the team be praying for you? If so, reach out to us at tcktimes.contact@gmail.com, we would love to! In a way, this is also a community, and we would love to do that for you :)
God bless,
Rose
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