After "I Believe"Sample

Day 5: Experiencing Life in Community

You may have crossed the line of faith alone, without much support from your family and friends. But what you’ll find on the other side is a huge family eager to welcome you and join you along your journey. This is a community established by Christ where there is love, intimacy, service and honor. A place where you can love and be loved, know and be known, serve and be served, celebrate and be celebrated.

So how do you experience the rewards of this new community? By joining one! You cannot develop yourself spiritually to the degree God intends apart from others. That is why finding a community—and committing to it—is one of the most important spiritual steps you can take. 

God expects Christians to be members of a church family. It not only expresses obedience to God, but it also moves us into a position of committed participation. It presents an opportunity to “step out of the stands” and publicly assert our commitment to Christ and to a specific local faith community. 

Yet while membership in a church brings you into the new community, it is only the entrance. The power of relational life must still be seized. 

As you start to develop strategic, spiritual relationships in your life, the impact is phenomenal, beginning with the challenge these relationships bring to your life. 

Spending time with people who are operating at a more mature spiritual level than you will undoubtedly challenge you to commit yourself more deeply, pay attention to areas you’ve ignored and deepen your walk with God. 

A second payoff has to do with encouragement. We all need people who come alongside us and help us keep going. Those in the church can encourage you with truth based on God’s Word. 

Another dynamic that relationships bring is accountability. Socrates once contended that the unexamined life was not worth living. It could be said that the unexamined spiritual life is not able to be lived. When it comes to our spirituality, only so much can be self-inspected. Being accountable is simply living a life that allows others to see the inside so that they can bring objective counsel and helpful challenge. 

Finally, relationships bring support—people who can provide help. People who can put their arm around you and help you make it through those times you cannot stand on your own. 

If you have not yet committed to a local church, challenge yourself to take that next step. And if you are part of a church, how might you begin to develop strategic, spiritual relationships?