Community Building
The Headlines this morning included things like, “The End of Western Civilization” and “Ditch Google and Gmail Before It’s Too Late.” Another site started with “Nun Murdered, 6 Beheaded by the Islamic State in Mozambique.” These articles were surrounded by the news of the damage done by Hurricane Ian.
Discouraging? Scary? Just thought provoking?
Secular and biblical podcasters and bloggers have been saying for a couple of years now that in these times we all need a community of people that we can turn to for help — physical, material, and spiritual help.
There is a return to earlier thinking about gardening and canning, preserving and storing up food in case the predicted disasters actually happen. Many people are leaving the places they have lived for a long time to get to someplace they deem safer or more reasonable from a political perspective.
From a Biblical worldview there are things we must consider as we make these decisions for ourselves and our families. Psalm 121 reminds us that our help comes from the Lord. He will direct our steps and protect us from evil. God has ordained both the time and place of where we are in our lives “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).
The circumstances of our day are creating a set of needs that are unfamiliar to us but basic security and understanding come from the Word of God. We are to be ambassadors for Christ to the world, to feed the hungry and to care for the poor and the elderly. We are to be in the world and serving others.
We also need to know and obey the Bible’s commands to love one another, serve one another, encourage one another and admonish one another. “One another” means our brothers and sisters in the faith first as well as our neighbors.
How do we reconcile that Psalm 121 tells us that our help comes from the Lord while the same Lord’s instructions are to love and serve others?
Clearly, it is faith that gives us the courage to leave our homes these days to serve others. If we understand that through His Spirit we are enabled to see the needs of others (inside and outside the Church) then we can turn to Him when we have our own discouraging moments of fear of what might happen. Psalm 121 reminds us that our God never slumbers nor sleeps, that He is our Keeper and finally, “The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.”
This means that even if man fails us, God is there as our Guide and Protector.
When we love, serve, encourage, and admonish one another, then we are in fellowship with each other. If we have a community of believers that we know, love, and serve and serve with, then we can have and share the confidence that our God will take care of us.
As with Habakkuk, this does not mean that we will not face the hardships of this world. He cried out to God that the wicked were surrounding the righteous and asked Him how long he would have to cry for help (Habakkuk 1:23). God brought judgment against the violence Habakkuk was witnessing. Even the faithful suffered under as the consequences for the sin of the nation as a whole. Is this not where we are today?
Are we obeying God to love, serve, encourage and admonish those with whom we worship? Do those around you know your gifts and strengths should they need you? Do your neighbors know that you love the Lord so much that you will serve them as they have needs?
This “community” that secular bloggers and podcasters talk about should already be in place for the believer in Jesus Christ. And, with Habakkuk we should be able to say, “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18 ).
Now, let’s go and change our email addresses to Proton mail and then go and build our community within the community of believers, knowing the Lord wants us to keep His commandments in order to show our love for Him.