The world today only seems to care about your social media presence, the value of your assets, or the influence that you have on others. The more I think about the world the less that I like it. A few times this week Lila told me that she’s not in this world, referring to all the technology stuff, and the more I thought about it the more it made me wish that was true for me.
I wish I didn’t care about all the stuff of today, and that screens weren’t such a large part of my interactions with others. This got me to thinking, how often do the screens that we have take us away from the people around us take us. We spend time together but much of it is spent looking at your phone or a tv instead of looking people in the eye and just talking? How often are we with people physically but mentally somewhere else? How often are we spending time together but doing something and so we don't actually learn anything about one another?How often do we spend time together without being in fellowship?
We're often there physically and maybe doing something together but we're not learning about one another. If we don’t learn about one another we don’t know how to equip one another for every good work. It's nearly impossible to teach, rebuke, correct or train someone well if you don’t know them.
So how can you get to one another more? By spending time with one another in fellowship and being intentional to learn more about one another, rather than just being physically present together instead being genuinely present talking about deeper things than just the weather, the week, the news, sports, or whatever. Instead of those shallow things, spend time together with other individuals talking about who you are and your pasts and your walk with God and so much more, getting past the surface and getting to a deeper understanding of one another.
The last few weeks we’ve been asking some questions about living in genuine community. This second step “Know one another More” seems simple, but it is vital to being equipped for every good work. Knowing just a little bit more, I want to know, I want you to take time this week and answer these two questions.
The first is about what you can do. #1 What does it look like for you personally to live in genuine community?
The second is about what our church can do. #2 How can we as a church live in genuine community?
If you wrote down an answer last week, add to it or change it however you see fit. We’ll be working with the same questions for a while as we talk about what it looks like for us to live in genuine community.
Knowing how the early church spent time together in order to know one another more to equip one another for every good work, how can we all personally and corporately live in genuine community?
Think about these questions and as the Lord leads, start taking steps to live in genuine community.
