First allow me to introduce myself, I am Trey. Whew! Now that I got that out of the way, I would like to dedicate my first blog post to a subject that is very dear to my heart and I have become quite passionate about: Community. This may seem a little strange for a twenty-one year man to be passionate about, but I have been doing some thinking lately. First and foremost I love people. People of all colors, shapes, ethnicities, and so on. It's simply incredible to me that no one person is truly identical(even identical twins aren't exactly identical). That means that everyone is different. Everyone! And everyone has a different story. One thing is for certain about every human. We were created and have a longing for community. It is a trait that we inherit from our Heavenly Father. In the very beginning of Genesis, God the Father created the heavens and the earth. He wasn't alone. As you continue to read Genesis it says in verse two that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Jesus, God the Son, was also there as clearly stated in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.". This is just fascinating to me. I understand how difficult it is to understand the Trinity, but They are three different beings all in one! So therefore we have the first glimpse of PERFECT community. Wow!! As we were created in God's image, we must also understand that we were created to be in community. God did not create us because He got bored. He created us because He loved us! The only time that God did not say His creation was good was in verse eighteen of Genesis which says, "It is not good for the man to be alone…". This just jumps out of the Bible at me. The best of all human experiences revolves around God and His perfect community. Adam and Eve walked with God in the Garden of Eden and had perfect fellowship with Him until sin caused a broken community. Thankfully the sin that broke community was nailed to the cross when Christ gave it all for us. Jesus had to give up His righteousness to become sin and die to restore the community we have with God(as long as we accept Him into our hearts).He not only came to earth to show us the perfect example of a servant king, a true lover and friend to all, conqueror over sin, but Jesus also came to revolutionize community.
The world today uses the word community in ways that is not biblical, but it is where the word originated from. Humans struggle with the definition of community. Some of the definitions of todays version of community include:
1. A neighborhood in which people live.
2. Online community (Facebook,twitter,instagram, etc.)
3. Social clubs (Fraternities,sororities,teams)
4. Community organiztions
Here is the problem with these definitions. How often do neighborhoods have get togethers and true community? How often do neighbors truly love and serve their neighbors? Loving and praying for your neighborhood is entirely different than seeing them drive by and tossing up a friendly wave. People have lost the sense of emotional relations to people because of online community. There is very little reality in it. Twitter expects you to describe your feelings in fifty words or less. Not to mention emoticons make this even more difficult. Where is the authenticity in that? Social media allows the world to only see what YOU want them to see. They see your smiling faces and the parties you attend, but do they see the struggle? Do they see the pain that follows us in our everyday life? Of course not! Because it's not real community. Online community allows us to cut and paste parts out of our lives, but we cannot cut and paste difficult parts out of our lives altogether. Social clubs and community organizations most often involve people with similar characteristics which is great and convenient, but is it real? Is it authentic love and fellowship that we were created for? Real community takes work. True biblical community is not a commitment to others, it is a commitment to the Gospel of Christ. It is the natural outcome of love that believers practice while being purified by Christ. My main purpose is not to promote community, because community isn't the goal we should work towards. The goal we should work towards is the natural ability to interpret and understand the gospel of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. However as a Christian, I love community because it is what I am commanded to love. 1 Peter 1:22 says, " Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,". I wrote this to share my heart. To preach and teach me how to truly love people. I am one of the most guilty people when it comes to sending a short "I am praying for you" text and being too lazy when I have felt called to visit friends and have personal conversations. As Christ continues to transform me in this process of sanctification, I realize that this process is not meant to be done alone. He gave me His Holy Spirit to guide me. Guide me to people that long for perfect community. Much love to you all.
TreyFet
John 16:33
