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Since returning home from a year’s worth of traveling off and on, I have found myself being exposed, and re-exposed to the lifestyle of living in community.
It seems as if everywhere I have been lately, someone is talking about the importance of community, almost if God’s trying to teach me something….
Maybe, just maybe, we were meant to do life together? Maybe getting up and moving when life gets uncomfortable, or because something better seemed to come along isn’t actually what God had in mind for us, after all. Maybe it’s all about investing into the lives of others, growing together, loving one another, and actually doing life together.
This really isn’t a new topic for me. I have a family who is fanatical about doing life together. I attend a church who places a huge emphasis on living life together, being involved in small groups, and living a life of one anothering. And when spending months in Springfield, MO, I searched out a church who believed the same.
Maybe more than anything, I am beginning to understand the deep value of living life with others. When you do life with those who know you, love you, appreciate and support you, it’s amazing how rich your life becomes. I am re-discovering that’s the life God really has and wants for us.
Deeply love Him. Deeply love His people.
Being transparent is hard work. It’s much easier to just show other’s your “good side,” not sticking around long enough to really let others get to know you; you know, letting them see the yucky stuff, being uncomfortable, working out issues.
My hope is that I continue to do that hard work, putting in the time and the energy to not only let others see me, but to see others. I want to get to a place where it’s really not about me, but about Jesus, and loving Him but living a life that honors him in a community of believers.
May we all discover who we are in Christ, and treat others as He desires.
Pastor Joe Hite 