Community Is Our HeartbeatSample

The Benefits of Love

By definition, God is love. So think about that for a moment. By nature God is self-giving - He is other-enriching. In the essence of His being, He is pouring Himself out, infinitely. (Interesting side note: God has to be a Trinity for that to actually be true.) The thing is, love cannot exist without a relational context for it to be expressed. Without a community where we actually practise love, all we are is a vapour, a mist of good intentions, vanity and self-righteousness.

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul riffs on this idea in a pretty brutal way. He says that spiritual gifts and a charismatic personality, without love - are as uncomfortable as a foghorn in your ear. And even if my faith is world-moving and full of profound insight and understanding, without love - it’s a hollow life. Even great acts of charity and self-denial are empty if they aren’t motivated by love. We need to let this vision of love saturate our way of thinking about these things.

Love is devoted to the good of others. Love is willing to risk ridicule and rejection. Love is the overflow of God’s generosity in our lives - being concerned for others without expecting anything in return. Love is the most countercultural idea that ever walked this planet. We could spend weeks just considering the wonder and life-giving power of love, but here it’s enough to notice that true love only exists in community. We can’t love in isolation.

Learning to Love in the Real World

The Bible’s idea of love can only be discovered in the push and pull of doing life in real community. And we’re never given a romantic picture of relationships without conflict. The disciples argued with each other and with Jesus. The dynamic missionary team of Paul and Barnabas split up because of a ministry disagreement. Even Peter and Paul had a public confrontation in front of the whole church in Antioch. And we don’t get to see the multitude of little awkward and uncomfortable moments between Judas the Zealot and Matthew the Tax Collector, or how the disciples handled Thomas’ scepticism or Nathanael’s critiques.

But we live in a world that is devoted to convincing us that life is meant to be easy and that the purpose of our existence is to remove anything that makes us feel awkward or uncomfortable. And if we’re not careful we can find our sphere of influence shrinking. It’s one of the challenges of the age of social media. We’re theoretically more connected, but in reality, we tend to seek out ever smaller pockets of validation to avoid the challenge of relating to people who are different. But whenever God is working it’s messy and stressful, He moves us outside our comfort zones. More specifically, He gives us the opportunity to do life in close proximity to others, people who are different to me. That’s what the Church is - randoms from all walks of life, all races, all manner of identities, learning to love one another.

Perhaps you’re longing for a mentor, or maybe you just want to be used by God to help others more - your experience right now could be one of loneliness? The thing is, if we want to experience more of what God has for our lives, we will discover it in community. When we choose to turn up, to get involved, to be real, then we start to discover the treasure of belonging. We are given the opportunity to grow in our love for others, learning how to make room in our hearts for their quirks and inconsistencies. And we receive the blessing of others too, their support and encouragement.

If you don’t feel like you are well connected at the moment, then you might need to make some changes around where you connect with other believers. But don’t believe the lie that you can move forward with God on your own. God is love. We are loved by Him and our primary calling is to be His love - to our brothers and sisters in Christ and to the watching world. Community is part of the heartbeat of God because that’s where we experience and embody the love that is Him.

Reflection Questions:

1. If I wrote my own definition, how would I explain what love is?
2. How much am I surrounded by comfortable relationships that don’t require much love?
3. What messy and uncomfortable relationships is God calling me towards?