Community Matters

Hey readers! I’m so happy to be back with another post for you all. I’m really enjoying getting back into writing! This week, we’re talking about community. I wanted to chat about it because the community my husband and I are merging into has really been blessing me and I feel that someone else out there who still may consider themselves a Lone Ranger for Christ could benefit from a topic like this. Here we go!

My church is walking through the Book of Esther so I’ll use the relationship Esther and Mordecai had to exemplify what God ordained community looks like. (Mind you, your community has no specific number attached to it so please do not feel pressure to find a certain number of people to have in your life to be considered “community worthy”.) In the beginning of the book of Esther we read a story involving a reckless king named Ahasuerus, a jealous official named Haman, a beautiful, jewish young Queen named Esther and her father figure Mordecai. The reckless king gives the official immeasurable authority to make all kinds of laws in the province. Because of his hatred for Mordecai, a man after God’s heart and well respected by the king himself, Haman makes orders to have Mordecai executed on top of threatening all of the lives of all of the Jews in the land. Where does Queen Esther come in? Well, she’s forewarned by Mordecai of the edict that has spread in the land and is encouraged to use her position to speak to the King and halt the plans of Haman. Esther is gripped with fear in that moment and we see glimpses of insecurity and self doubt. Mordecai reminds her of her position, reminds her that God is the one who has graced her to be where she is and that this could be the exact reason for it.

Esther is encouraged and decides to fast for 3 days before going before the king. Mordecai and the rest of the kingdom also fast for 3 days alongside her and Esther is ultimately able to petition to the king everything she fears and he orders a stop to the entire edict. Haman is then ordered to be executed in place of Mordecai and everyone is able to exhale again. How does this speak to us having God ordained relationships and good community? When we are connected to community we have access to wise counsel, encouragement in our faith, partnership in prayer, and space to exercise boldness and confidence when life gets scary. You have access to people who see you the way God sees you and pushes you in the direction of better. You have people who can hold you accountable to what God has called you to be in the earth, even when you don’t see it for yourself. Community matters. Isolation in the sense of being a Lone Ranger doesn’t afford you these gifts. Who is there to encourage you when you are down? Who is there to help you make wise decisions for you and your family when you really can’t decide? Who is there to hold you accountable when you fall short? Literally no one but your own voice in your head. It is you who is trying to interpret scripture correctly but have no one to flesh it out with. It is just you and it is not biblical to be this way all of your Christian walk.

Lone Ranger. What does this typically mean? From my view point a Lone Ranger is someone who would rather live a life outside of the company of other Christians…A Christian who doesn’t believe they need anyone to have a real and authentic relationship with God. As an ex-lone ranger I used to think this was a true statement. I can confidently share now that it is yet another lie from the enemy and it can do more harm than good in the long run. I want to be clear, I am not referring to the seasons of isolation that God may require us to go through. That is altogether a different blog post. This is strictly for the people who think living their whole lives with just them and God and no one else is something that is okay to do as a believer. As tough as it was for me to come to this conclusion, I want to hold your virtual hand when I say this… “You need people in this walk with Christ.”

Of course this topic begs for us to flesh out some of the reasons people adopt this Lone Ranger mentality. Some prefer to live this way because they’ve been hurt by someone or a group of people they’ve previously trusted. Some prefer to live this way because they believe their relationship with God has certain nuances to it that only they and God understand. Some people prefer to live this way because they naturally don’t like people in their space or in their business so they keep their distance on purpose. Whatever the rationale, it may feel comfortable but it isn’t what God wants for you. In scripture, we see loads of relationships and community examples that inspire us. People like David and Jonathan, Elijah and Elisha, Jesus and his disciples, Ruth and Naomi, Esther and Mordecai, Paul and Timothy… the list can go on. The stories behind these relationships have been God ordained and therefore necessary to the building of the early church and the body of Christ as a whole. We glean from these stories and learn many lessons.

With that said, I pose the question to you— why do you reject community if you see so many powerful examples of God ordained relationships? This is the same question I had to ask myself. My answer was because I developed trust issues. I think it’s important to state that just because you have longevity with people doesn’t mean the relationships are God ordained. For instance, you could have the same friend in your life since kindergarten and though you are close with them, God still may not have blessed that friendship for you and your walk in Christ. Better yet, your long term friend could have grown up in church with you but even that doesn’t warrant them God’s blessing to walk with you in life. Does that give you a reason to isolate yourself and reject all relationships that may come around in the future? No. In my view, every relationship we encounter should be measured by scripture and led by the Holy Spirit. In my case, I thought the longevity I had with people warranted the assumption that I had my “Jonathan” or my “Mordecai” as a friend. It wasn’t until I began to measure them up against scripture that I was able to let go and rebuild the community that would inspire me in the ways that I knew God would want me to be inspired by.

So we’ve touched on what healthy community looks like through the relationship of Esther and Mordecai but what does unhealthy community look like? Let’s look at David and King Saul. In short, King Saul was appointed by God to be king of the Israelites because it was a request that the Israelites kept petitioning for. Once Saul was appointed, he later encountered David and they became a force to be reckoned with. Some years later, King Saul’s respect for David would grow tremendously until Saul disobeyed the instruction of God through the prophet Samuel and lost both his anointing and God’s covering over his life. When Samuel told Saul who God has chosen in his place as king of Israel, that being David, the shift happens. We see jealousy, rage, envy and hatred envelope Saul so much toward David, that he begins to figure out ways to end his life. I am not saying that in community, real emotions and tests do not happen that are meant to grow us…what I am saying is that at no point is it God’s will for us to be inside the body of Christ destroying or planning to destroy one another. Community is meant to stretch us, grow us naturally and spiritually, encourage us, develop us and help sanctify us through the work of the Holy Spirit. If you have friends who cannot stand to see you win, you are in unhealthy community. If you are surrounded by people who only bring you news that discourages your spirit, breeds resentment toward other people, or anything counteractive to how God wants us to live than you are in unhealthy community.

The story of King Saul and David has many lessons we can draw out of but as it relates to community, we must be vigilant. I want to point out that sometimes we all can’t run like David did and hide from Saul’s anger toward him but what we can do is do what Jesus did to Judas. He loved him even though he knew what his plans were the whole time. Jesus ate, slept, ministered and poured into people day in and day out with Judas not too far away from him. He looked at him every day. He taught him the same as he taught the rest of the disciples. He did not create a city of space between them because he knew what Judas would ultimately do. For those of us who don’t have the luxury to move away or completely separate from those who intend to hurt them, look at Jesus and be led in love. It is easier said than done, I know. But the enemy counts on you becoming distraught. The enemy counts on you focusing on the troubled water surrounding you instead of the work the Lord has for you to do in that moment. Do not be moved. Not all of Jesus’ disciples were full of Judas characteristics. It was only one. Therefore, be encouraged. The majority of our communities should be healthy in nature. Even when we are tested and tried by one another, we have biblical instruction on how to handle it (Matthew 5:23-24 and Matthew 18:15-17) .

We are NOT given instruction or license to live this Christian walk alone. A season of isolation is just that— a season. We don’t even get a lot of those, it seems like the Lord calls for those kind of seasons sparingly. So we have no excuse not to live in community. We have no excuse to live like we have reasonable justification for being lone rangers in God. If you are a Lone Ranger, you are technically not a part of the BODY OF CHRIST. What makes up a persons body? A multitude of organs, ligaments, veins, cells, systems etc. and they are all covered in blood. The blood carries the oxygen that helps to keep everything viable. In this conversation, who is the body of Christ? Those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ and chose Him as our Lord and Savior. Whose blood is giving us viability to work together so that the body continues to function? Christ Jesus. So where does a Lone Ranger mentality or lifestyle apply to the operating of the body of Christ? NO WHERE.

I hope this blog blessed you and I hope that I was able to communicate my point accurately. Please comment down below and let me know your thoughts, as always. Until next post, God bless you!