The first step of living in genuine community is spending time together and you do this in order to do the second step, which is to know one another more and you do this in order to be able to love one another sincerely.
In Greek there are 4 words for love.
Philea is brotherly love, the powerful emotional bond seen in deep friendships.
Storge is familial love, the bond that develops between parents and children and brothers and sisters.
Agape is the word used to describe God's love, it's love that is perfect, unconditional, sacrificial, pure, and unending and so much more.
With these definitions and ideas about loving one another going through my mind when I read Romans 12:9 in New Living Translation this last week, it felt like the Lord is challenging me in the way that I love.
Romans 12:9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them.
Are I really loving the people in this community with brotherly, familial, agape love or am I just pretending? Are you really loving the people in this community with brotherly, familial, agape love or are you just pretending?
Regardless of your answer, how will you work towards truly loving one another sincerely along with me?
The last few weeks we’ve been asking some questions about living in genuine community. This third step of loving one another sincerely is the result of spending time together and knowing one another and it is what we are called to do to live in genuine community. However loving sincerely is not easy, it takes time and it requires a change in our hearts and in our actions.
Knowing that it is a commitment to begin to love one another sincerely what would it look like for us to love one another sincerely?
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 does it look like for us to live in genuine community.
Weekly Bible Reading Plan Options
Old Testament Reading: 1 Chronicles 1-14
Psalms: 7-12
New Testament Reading: Colossians 1-4
Wisdom: Proverbs 28
