Daily Reading for Thursday, Feb. 28: Community

“He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Col 1:17

Here is one definition of community that is particularly insightful: Community means: [A] group of people sharing a common understanding who reveal themselves by using the same language, manners, tradition and law.
Think of the local community you live in. Your town is comprised of even smaller communities or neighborhoods. And these neighborhoods are comprised of even smaller communities of families. And to break it out further, each family is comprised of individuals. For even a small town, that is a lot of people. But even though all the individuals of a town are unique and one-of-a-kind, they still have the commonality of understanding about who they are and why they are there. They reveal themselves in their language, in their manners, in their traditions, and in their laws.
But what about the community of faith? Or, more precisely, the community of faith that you are associated with—your church? What defines and describes this community? You see, a church is just like any other community in many ways. There are all kinds of individuals who make up the church with all kinds of personalities and gifts. And yet, we come together in Christ with one common understanding—that our ultimate purpose is to make Jesus known. People have poked fun at the “Christian-eze” (that church-talk that we often use when talking with one another), and rightfully so in many cases. However, we do have a common language, common manners and traditions, and a common law written on our hearts. As this verse says, in Him (Jesus) all things are held together. Jesus holds us together in our individuality so that we can accomplish His purposes for us—as a community and as individuals.