The Habit of Meeting Together
I heard a story once about a pastor who was on a job interview. When he was asked his favorite part of the job was, he replied enthusiastically, "The people!" Moments later, when asked what was his least favorite part of the job was, he responded seriously, "The people."
Can you relate?
People are difficult and wonderful, sinful and amazing. This is why God spends so much time in His Word explaining how to treat each other; He knew it wouldn’t be easy for us to live together in community, so He gave us some direction.
4 Reasons Why Community is Good
We need companions!
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to live alone. I will make a suitable companion to help him.” Genesis 2:18
Life in community involves providing for the poor and respecting all people. Look at the guidelines in Leviticus 19:
Each of you must respect your mother and your father…
When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left...leave them for poor people and foreigners.
Do not steal or cheat or lie.
Do not rob or take advantage of anyone.
Do not curse the deaf or put something in front of the blind so as to make them stumble over it.
Be honest and just when you make decisions in legal cases; do not show favoritism to the poor or fear the rich.
Do not spread lies about anyone…
Do not bear a grudge against others…
Do not take revenge on others…
...love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the Lord.
Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land.
Do not cheat anyone…
Even when we are tempted to give up on community, we are encouraged to keep meeting together.
Let us be concerned for one another, to help one another to show love and to do good. Let us not give up the habit of meeting together, as some are doing. Instead, let us encourage one another all the more, since you see that the Day of the Lord is coming nearer. (Hebrews 10:24-25)
God wants us to be in fellowship with one another, for it is good!
No, the Lord has told us what is good. What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God. (Micah 6:8)
In community we learn from others and take the focus off ourselves. It is here that we truly experience love.
Building our .BIBLE Community
We are committed to growing our .BIBLE community and engaging with Christians around the world by helping people get onto our top-level domain and meeting new people through our podcast. It has been so rewarding.
Together, we are building a community of people who are building their own communities. It’s been so rewarding.
If you’ve stepped out of community lately, take some time to write down some ways you can re-engage. It’s one of the ways we have to truly connect with Him.
P.S. Don’t forget, for a limited time .BIBLE is offering half off domain names. Tell your friends to register a .BIBLE domain name today!