It is not good for woman to be alone …

• October
• 12

7:15 pm Chit-chat

Our pastor spoke on “Building Community” this morning, a subject that is very dear to my heart (though it wasn’t always!). The further I go in my Christian walk, or even just in my daily life, the more I realise … it’s all about relationships!

Let me share with you some of the points I wrote down, that really spoke to me:

• THERE are a lot of Christians out there who don’t go to church, who even say they love God but don’t like Christians. That’s like telling Jesus you love Him, but you can’t stand His wife! If you said that to any other man, you wouldn’t stay friends very long!
• IF you don’t love those that you can see (ie the church), then how can you love a God that you can’t see (1 John 4:20)?
• SOMETIMES, these same Christians will tell you that they don’t need to go to church, they can worship God anywhere … at home, in the garden, in the great Aussie outdoors. It’s the invisible church! My hubby nudged me and whispered, “The Letter of St Paul to the Invisible Church” which made me giggle. But he’s right - I don’t see that in the Bible anywhere, do you?! And as my pastor said, what happens to these members of the invisible church when they are sick? When you need help? Where will you give your tithes and offerings?
• WE all know that if we love God, we should show it by our actions. Jesus himself asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Each time, Peter answered yes, and Jesus responded: “Feed my sheep”. I always thought this command was only to leadership but now I think it is an instruction to ALL believers … and church is where we feed and nurture each other.

It was a powerful sermon and has certainly given me much food for thought. Three years ago, I even wrote an assignment on the principle of Christian community for Bible College!

It is something I have struggled with for several years, and an area that I am continuing to grow in. It was like with my HEAD I knew it was what God wanted, but my HEART didn’t quite get it yet. I think that is changing … that I am changing … to be more like Him.

Only recently I re-read that oh-so-familiar verse in Genesis, “It is not good for a man to be alone” and for the first time I realised that this is not just talking about Adam finding a bride (Eve). It is not good for ANY of us to be alone, and God is not talking about just the marriage relationship here - else ALL of us would get married!

Think about it - it is not good for a man to be alone. It is not good for a woman to be alone. It is not good for ANY of us to be alone! We need each other, and that’s the way God designed us …