Community in Christ

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His incomparably great power for us who believe” (Ephesians 1:18-9).

The Lord works in mysterious ways. We’re told that God’s ways are higher than our own, so we don’t always understand what His plan is, but there’s more to it.
           
God works in ways that we don’t always understand, but He also works in creative ways that we’re not always looking for. We touched on this in one of our previous devotions when we were exploring how God speaks to us individually.
           
We serve a very personal God. Therefore, He communicates with us in personal ways. We discussed how it’s important for us to be in a position where we can commune with God, and while we do our most spiritual growth in our private, personal time with Him, we are destined for community. He designed us to be family-oriented—it’s the very illustration of heaven to be together with other brothers and sisters of God.
           
We can’t miss Him in community just like we can’t miss Him in our individuality.
           
If we focus all our attention on seeking Him in our private lives but fail to open our doors and our hearts to others, we miss the point. When we let the Lord clean out our jumbled-up hearts and He becomes the centerpiece of our lives, this also means that our lives are no longer our own. We can’t just sit with Jesus in a quiet room and meditate on His Word and seek His wisdom without the responsibility of seeking out how we can serve and love others.
           
We aren’t always looking for this, but one thing is for certain: God wants not only to connect with us, but He wants us to connect with each other. He doesn’t just want to speak to us individually but collectively.
           
The Christmas story is not just about how Jesus changed Mary’s life or Joseph’s life. Jesus could have been born that night and perhaps no one would have known about it for days, but that’s not the story. After His birth, shepherds show up. Wise men show up. Heavenly hosts worship with earthly men—why? Because God wants us to connect. When Jesus is in the room, people of every tribe, every tongue, and every nation find common ground because of one common love.
           
The Lord is working in hearts right now—He’s working in mysterious, creative ways, cleaning out the houses of our hearts so that we might have abundant room for family. If you want a glimpse of heaven, family is the closest thing on earth to what it will be like, because that’s what He’s been after since the beginning.

All roads lead to being one with Him and one with each other.