This is Day 4 of 31 Days of Intentional Community. Thanks for reading along!
If you're in a place of feeling lonely, I wanted to share a little comfort with you today. If you are in Christ, than you are already in a community, whether you realize it or not.
Through the gospel, we gain a whole new community! Be encouraged by this passage from a wonderful book, Because He Loves Me, by Elyse Fitzpatrick.
"We are no longer merely the children of our biological parents. We've been irrevocably adopted by our Father in heaven, and his story is now our story. We're part of the glorious unfolding of his plan and find our place in his purposes in the earth. Who are you? You are a child of your Father, the King who comforts your timorous heart so that when you are tempted and tried, you may confidently cry, "Abba, Father!" (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:5-7).
Instead of having just one or two siblings, you are a member of his body, in communion with all our brothers and sisters from all ages (1 Cor. 12:12-13). You're a member of God's heavenly family; Paul, Peter, John, and even Jesus himself are your brothers. Mary, his earthly mother, is your sister. "Beloved we are God's children now" (1 John 3:2).
In our new identity, we no longer identify status because "Christ is all, and in all" (Col. 3:11). This radical adoption tears down all the barriers that once separated brother and sister and makes us all one in him, "for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God... There is neither Jew not Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26, 28)."
Share with us in the comments if you have a tangible way that you have felt the body of Christ come alongside you as your community or new/extended family!