The true beauty of a community of believers walking together lies in our ability to love and support one another under any circumstance. If one falls, the community as a whole responds in love and carries the broken member back to safety. It never abandons. By requiring unconditional love, the Lord tests our ability as a community to "carry one another's burdens" and remain faithful in the midst of hardship, offense, frustration, disagreement, etc. Can we love through the pain? Can we simply love? It is in these moments that hearts are saved and restored. (Not in the sense of salvation, but in the sense of the prodigal returning).
With that said, this community can not function properly unless we decide individually to open ourselves up and be vulnerable to one another. WE MUST ASK FOR HELP. The structure of the body of Christ only works if we rely on one another. The community is responsible for carrying one another, but the individual is responsible for reaching out.
In the past few weeks, and even within the past few days, I've realized my incredible need for others. My tendency is to recluse. But after spending the weekend with some of my closest friends, I found that my heart was naturally encouraged. It's not that we did anything "spiritual." They never prayed for me. (Our time together consisted mostly of just sitting around and drinking beer). But, something still shifted in me. Areas that I have been struggling with and wrestling over just gave way. By simply putting myself in the environment of people who are filled with the Holy Spirit and walking in love, incredible things happened within me. I remembered what it was like to be a part of that kind of community. It was beautiful.
