Jesus said,
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
JOHN 15:12-13 ESV
Got a call from a sweet friend this morning to go open my front door, and this is what I found—a piping hot cup of citrus mint tea and my heart full of thanks for God’s provision and care. My younger son and I had been curled up together nursing a cold and his strep throat, generally feeling exhausted, and then God used the kindness of a dear friend to say,
“I see you, daughter, and know your needs and the longings of your heart. I carry your burdens alongside you and am faithful to keep my promises.”
Let me explain. A couple years ago, my family moved back to my hometown, and while it still felt like home, I myself felt very much like an outsider, not because of anything anyone did or said, but because so much had changed here—including myself. Most of my closest childhood friends had since moved away, so my heart longed for that deep kind of friendship that allows for authenticity and real connection, that stands in the gap, that points each other to Jesus and speaks the truth in love.
God made each of us for community. We aren’t meant to walk the path of life alone, and while we may go through seasons of loneliness or isolation, whether due to our circumstances or self-induced, they are never meant to be permanent.
I fiercely missed that togetherness.
Connection with Him and with others is part of God’s plan for all of us.
As Christians, the primary way we experience community outside of our families is within the church, each of us a vital part of the body of Christ working together to fulfill our purpose and serve one another in love, helping to carry the weight of life’s burdens, all while edifying and encouraging each other in the Lord.
As I prayed and shared my heart with God, I longed for that kind of community again, and He eventually provided it in the form of my Sunday School class. We are a smallish group of imperfect people who know we need Jesus in every moment, who support one another and rejoice with one another, who learn from and pray over each other, who cry and laugh together—often in the same hour of class time.
These are my people and my village whom I dearly love in Christ as brothers and sisters.
They never hesitate to lay down their lives for their friends, not in the literal sense, although I suspect they would if, heaven forbid, it ever came to that. No, we‘re all still very much alive as God has a plan for us yet. Rather, they give themselves to Him as a living sacrifice by laying down those parts of their lives that this world persistently tells us to keep all to ourselves … our time, energy, resources, emotional availability and physical presence when life gets messy and complicated and busy and challenging.
They sacrifice all of these things not to be able to pat themselves on the back and say, “Look at what we did!” but to point each other to Jesus and say, “Look at who He is and what He is doing! He is SO good!”
We get to participate in life and God’s plan together, with our flaws and strengths and hopes and disappointments all very much present. And that is such a gift!
My hope is that you, too, will find and help build your community. Be intentional in looking for a church home and a small group or Sunday school class into which you can pour your God-given gifts. You don’t have to have financial wealth and stability in order to give back to the church and your community! Use your time to serve others and glorify Him. Use your talents and strengths to uplift and help the people around you.
Church isn’t just for learning and growing in your own walk with the Lord; it’s also for fellowship and servanthood and faithful stewardship of what God has provided.
You are an important part of the body of Christ, friend, and as such, you were made to be in community with and service to other born-again siblings. Someone out there needs what only you can provide … YOURSELF, as a living offering to the One who gave everything for us.
So, Hope—if you’re reading this, sisterfriend—thank you for brightening my morning with your tea delivery! It was so much more than just hot tea. It was comfort in a cup, a reminder of God’s presence and provision, of prayers answered and promises fulfilled, of the purpose of community, of what agape love and friendship looks like in everyday moments. It was the perfect gift today! ❤️
Romans 12 is one of my favorite chapters about friendship and community, and God’s voice spoke loudest through The Message today. So, I’ll just leave it right here for you:
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?
So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ’s body, let’s just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren’t.
If you preach, just preach God’s Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don’t take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don’t get bossy; if you’re put in charge, don’t manipulate; if you’re called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don’t let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.
Love from the center of who you are; don’t fake it. Run for dear life from evil; hold on for dear life to good. Be good friends who love deeply; practice playing second fiddle.
Don’t burn out; keep yourselves fueled and aflame. Be alert servants of the Master, cheerfully expectant. Don’t quit in hard times; pray all the harder. Help needy Christians; be inventive in hospitality.
Bless your enemies; no cursing under your breath. Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down. Get along with each other; don’t be stuck-up. Make friends with nobodies; don’t be the great somebody.
Don’t hit back; discover beauty in everyone. If you’ve got it in you, get along with everybody. Don’t insist on getting even; that’s not for you to do. ‘I’ll do the judging,’ says God. ‘I’ll take care of it.’
Our Scriptures tell us that if you see your enemy hungry, go buy that person lunch, or if he’s thirsty, get him a drink. Your generosity will surprise him with goodness. Don’t let evil get the best of you; get the best of evil by doing good. I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you.
Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him.”
ROMANS 12:1-21 MSG (emphasis mine)
