Community

As Americans we're extremely individualistic, and I myself have always resolved to rely upon no one else. In fact, if I began to lean on anyone, even for just emotional support, I felt guilty. I had this mindset that I was betraying God if I trusted anyone else, and that He would feel abandoned because I wasn't putting 100% of my trust in Him; 10% was in Suzie, and 5% was in Timmy, and that only left 85% for Jesus. When I did the math, those percentages added up to sin. I decided to isolate myself completely, and refused to let anyone in. This, of course, had consequences on every relationship I had, and especially on the one I had with God.

God can speak to us through sources that we'd never imagined. Heck. God talked to Balaam through his donkey. As a fairly new Christian, I had no knowledge about God or about the way I was supposed to relate to Him (or to other people). Without the support of other Christians who I had blocked off from my heart, I was suffering. Though I tried to convince myself that I didn't need them, my heart knew better. I spent a year after becoming a Christian without any true support because I was constantly pushing others away. I began attending Boise Bible College with the mindset that I wouldn't have any close friends. I thought that was how life should be.

Within the first few weeks, one of my professors gave us a lesson about community. He read from Genesis:

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found.

So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Though these verses speak about a man and a woman, he applied the concept to the idea of community in general. The words, "it is not good for man to be alone," echoed through to my concrete heart. The idea of being emotionally naked, hearts stripped bare, was frightening to me. It was also freeing. Once again the Gospel of Jesus has set me free!

God has given me the best community a person could ever ask for. I am so grateful for the people around me. This semester God seems to be really drilling in the idea of community. He has proposed opportunities for me to become closer to people and my heart aches sweetly when I think of the wonderful experiences I've had thus far. I hope that I can continue to become closer to those around me, in order to love them the way God has loved me. Praise Him for His faithfulness: 19 years of wandering in the desert, and at last I am home!