Have you ever gotten home from a social event (or turned your computer off after an online one) and felt instantly drained? Or perhaps you were left feeling elated, wanting to share the love you experienced with someone else?
Community is a tricky thing. We were all created for community, yet because of our broken world, we don’t often get “community” right. Sometimes, when we are told that we should be part of a community, we choose to stay around people who make us feel bad about ourselves or drained our energy. However, that’s not the kind of community God intended for us.
The scripture often used to support the idea of God creating us for community is from Genesis, when God created Eve to take care of the Earth with Adam. When Adam first meets Eve, he is so excited that he verbal rejoices.
This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh.
Genesis 2:23
Adam declares that Eve is just like him. In fact, their humanity is what connects them. Even after the fall, we are still connected to one another. However, we have to be more intentional about honoring that truth.
God created community so that we can worship Him together and reflect His love to one another. Ideally, any group of people would be able to feel refreshed and rejuvenated after spending time together. However, sadly that is not the case, which means not only do we need to be intentional about loving each other, we also have to be intentional about what communities we join.
Have you ever spent so much time with someone that you begin to become more like them? I realized the other day that the voice in my head often sounds like whoever I am spending the most time with! A little scary to think about sometimes…
Even the way we see ourselves reflects who we are around. When we are with encouraging people, we will feel more confident. If we are with negative people, we may experience more stress and irritation with the world.
When you are trying to figure out whether or not you should stay in a community, let God’s Spirit speak to you through your feelings. After spending time with them, are you feeling more alive, more affirmed in how God sees you? Or are you feeling discouraged and drained, used even?
God wants us to be loving to everyone, including the people who make us feel frustrated. However, we can love difficult people from afar. Sometimes God does call us to spend a lot of time with difficult people, and if that’s the case, it’s important to also surround yourself with healthy people. But God would never want you to force yourself to stay in a relationship that hurts you or others.
Today, if you are part of a community that reflects the characteristics of God, thank God and reach out to these people to show your appreciation. If you are not part of a community, ask God to show you who you should connect with in order to fill that void in your life.
You belong, regardless of what others have made you believe in the past. You deserve to be surrounded by people who see you the way God sees you: chosen, loved, and made in His image.
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them.
Genesis 1:27
The Will to Wake Up 