Community

What does it mean to be in community? Acts 2:42-47 talks about the community that we are called to be in as believers. It should be our desire to be with fellow Christians, and together embrace those around us.

Embracing the Christian community is important to remembering what Christ has done for us, and we do this by taking communion with fellow believers. Taking communion corporately is what the early church did and reminded them of why they were together.

How often do we forget to pray? I don't mean praying before a meal, or before we go to bed, but having communication with God throughout the day. Our focus, daily, should be on Christ and things that are going to glorify Him. Continually renewing our mind, we should be in constant prayer with God, seeking His will. Why would we not want to let Christ know our desires throughout the day, especially if they are desires that will further His Kingdom?

Remember how big our God is. It is so easy to minimize who God is. We can stick Him in a box to be a merciful Savior, or we can put Him in another box that shows His wrath upon an evil world. However, we serve both. He is both. In one. Remembering the God who has graciously saved me from sin and eternal damnation is also the God that promises to come back to Earth on a white horse with a sword coming from His mouth. Wrap your head around that. Pretty crazy huh? Remembering how big of a God I serve leaves me in awe when I really sit and think about it, and as a result I can't help but praise Him more.

What is there to praise Him for? Setting aside the obvious, that He saved us, we can praise Him for everything that He provides for us. Think of everything that we have and how blessed we are, and know that it is all because God loves us. So why not give back to our community? Is it a lack of faith, that we might not have enough of something for ourselves? Sure... but then how convicting is it that we don't want to give up something after Christ has given it to us, and how little is our faith to think He cannot provide it for us again if we give it up.

We should be giving back, and not just to our Christian community, but also to the community in which we live. It is easy to sacrifice a little bit of time, energy and even a little money to help out those around us. We can be confident that Christ will use the situation to bring glory to Himself. What an awesome way to praise God through the actions of our lives that is above and beyond praising Him in music, or through prayer.

By giving back and loving unconditionally to those around us, believers and nonbelievers, it is obvious to see the love of Christ and others find that attractive. We can attract those around us to Christ by our actions.