Community, more than just a new buzz word?

One of the buzz words finding its way through many Christian circles right now is “community.” Buzz words come and go like fads, disappearing as soon as other ones catch on. But community, in relation to our faith, is nothing new. It’s been around for quite a while. In fact, community is supposed to be a huge part of our faith journey. We all know we’re supposed to walk with other believers and help each other through life’s stuff. Hanging out with other believers is easy. The church is really good at this as well. You can pretty much count on the three Fs of a good church: food, fun, and fellowship. At my church, we play Cornhole. It’s a great game that requires Lebron James like athleticism mixed with Tiger Woods like concentration and all around catlike skill and reflexes. OK, that was an exaggeration. All you have to do is stand in one spot and throw beanbags at a board with a hole in it. Watch this little video to capture to essence of Cornhole.

So, we’ve got fellowship with other believers down to a science. And that’s a good thing. But we’re missing the fellowship with our Creator. We understand the importance of connecting with other believers, but hanging out with God can be difficult to grasp and therefore difficult to live out. You see, we can keep people at arm’s length and still say we have community, but we can’t have fellowship with Christ that way. He knows our hearts, and honestly, being in fellowship with Him requires a lot. Perpetual sin can’t be a part of our lives; it has to be constantly dealt with. We can’t walk in the darkness and say we have fellowship with Him. You see, fellowship with other believers can technically, though incorrectly, be squeezed into the few hours a week we see people. We can act right for those few hours and hide behind our churchy masks. But fellowship with Christ calls for genuine, around-the-clock interaction.

Are you settling for potluck fellowship with God, enjoying a few minutes here and there with Him, or are you living interacting with Him all day, every day? These passages in 1 John lay out what real fellowship looks like. And guess what—it’s black and white. There’s no gray area. Spend some time this weekend hanging out with God, reading His Word and talking to Him about what’s going on in your life. Having genuine fellowship with Him allows us to have real community with others, just like God designed it. Are you connected?