“God, who is community in his essence, creates community and asks us to worship him in community.”

I have been sitting with this sentence for the last hour. I’ve heard Pastor say this before. And every time I hear it. I halt. Right away I am amazed at its simplicity in form and depth in notion. God is community.

Team work in the body makes it better

I don’t know about you, but this made me think of: “there’s no ‘I’ in team.” This is one of the first things we learn as kids. Think about it! We heard it when we joined a little league team, played a game during recess, or when we worked on a team project for class. It’s a fundamental universal concept, (that most of the world does not credit to God). Yet, it’s something that we know and believe…for the most part.

I’ll be the first to raise my hand and admit that I’m that kid that said and sometimes still says, “but there’s a “m” and an “e.” I want to be the best at whatever I do. I want the accolades and the praise that goes with it. I want the promotion, my name in lights, I want all of that.

But this desire is nowhere near God’s heart, which is three in one. (John 10:29-30) Paul understood this. As Pastor said Sunday, “our ability to handle things coming our way is directly in tune with our ability to hear God’s voice.” In order to hear God, we have to have an ear tuned to God. And Paul, absolutely, did. He prayed with the most sincere joy, love and devotion for the church in Philippi, where he was beaten and thrown in jail and no one came to his aid. (Acts 16) Read it for yourself. I have never prayed this way about any person, let alone a whole church, which is filled with sinners, who intentionally and unintentionally hurt each other.

Can you imagine a place where everyone looks out for the other person?

A place where no one is in need because everyone shared? What’s mine is, truly, yours. This is the community of the Kingdom of God. This is God’s desire for us now.

Sometimes I struggle with the difference between pride, confidence, and independence. Our society teaches us to be first, to be the best, to be unique, to be independent. All of these ring of virtue; this is an illusion because none of these things ring of Christ. You will find the complete opposite in scripture: the first will be last and the last will be first (Matt 20:16), he must become greater so I must become less (John 3:30), we are destined to be conformed to his image (Romans 8:29), you must depend on Christ only (Col. 2:7-9), and Christ prayed that we would all be one as he and the Father are one (John 17:21).

Do I fight to love God’s people more than myself, so much that everything I have is the communities?

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” (Acts 2:44-46)

This is Kingdom living. This is when my ear is tuned into God and his desires. Only when I am connected with him can I even fix my mind to think this way and desire to live this way. I am not there yet, but with God all things are possible.

Let’s march this out together. I’ll pray for you, please pray for me.

Categories: Acts17seventeen

audreyell

I am a writer, a poet. I peruse life like a storybook, a tale, where the ending is unknown but believed to be happily ever after. I am an attorney by trade. I am a singer, poet, and actress by desire and gift. I am a member of City Church of Sacramento and I am growing in grace and repentance. I am a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and friend, all of which I am gratefully budding in.