Three Primary Pictures

Have you ever watched toddlers try to play together? Most of the time they’re saying things like, “Hey! That’s mine!” Or “I wanted to play with that!” For the most part, they’re playing beside each other with little problem-solving skills or creativity that incorporates both children effectively without complaint. But, when kids hit the age of about 6 or 7, something seems to shift. Watch these kids on the playground and they’re saying things like: “Want to be my friend?” They’re at the age where their creativity gives each child a place in the game and they find it more fun to play together than to play by themselves, their own way (usually).  As adults, we can tend to be more like toddlers than young children. We want to do everything for ourselves because we’ve bought into the lie that we don’t need other people. We can face our problems by ourselves because we don’t need to burden others. We can handle anything life throws our way because we’re adults who know what we’re doing all of the time, right? We may be able to do life on our own, but we’ll make a mess of our lives and miss out on the joy of doing life together. Just like the playground is more fun with a friend by your side, life is more full with fellow believers by our sides. When we drift away from our community, we’re more susceptible to believing lies that keep us away. We believe that they didn’t really like us or want us around anyways. We believe that we’re too busy. We believe that we’re too different from our community to have a place. We believe that we’re too broken for our community to handle. Whatever the lie, Satan will plant the one that is most believable to you to keep you isolated. The more isolated we are, the more we fall into these lies about ourselves, Christ, truth, or other believers. The more we believe lies, the more we drift away from Christ. Reflection/Discussion Question: What lies have you believed that have kept you away from community and/or church?

We are our best selves when we are in community with other believers. This is how we were created and made to flourish. First Corinthians 12:12, and 18-19 says, “The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ . . . But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part!” (NLT). Together, all believers make up the Body of Christ. We aren’t meant to be exactly the same, just as our bodies are not made of one part with a single function. Our physical bodies are at their best when each part is doing its job. If one part of our bodies starts to suffer, the rest of the body suffers. The Body of Christ functions the same way. We flourish when each part is doing its job, and we suffer when one of us goes into isolation. Imagine how much the Body suffers when most of us live in isolation.  A heart is made to pump blood to the rest of the body, but a heart without a body is completely useless. Similarly, a believer without the body of Christ is completely useless. We were made in the image of the Trinity, and the Trinity is a perfect picture of each part doing its’ specific job to the benefit of all of creation. Since we are made in the image of the Trinity, we are made to flourish when we are in true community with one another. If God is in community with Christ and the Holy Spirit, then we can’t say we don’t need community. One of Jesus’s final prayers before going to the cross was one for the unity of all believers: “ ‘I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me’ ” (NLT). This isn’t simply a nice suggestion; this was one of the most important prayers that has ever been prayed. We were made for unity. When we are in perfect unity, the world will see Christ for who he is. Reflection/Discussion Question: What do you think is keeping the Body of Christ from the kind of unity that Jesus prayed for?