Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18, ESV)
Have you ever looked at this statement closer and put it in its proper context? This verse appears very close to the beginning of the earth—namely, the creation story. Think about this: These are the words of God (he’s essentially talking to himself) spoken before sin entered the world. In the Garden of Eden, Adam lived in a world unmarred by sin; everything was absolutely perfect.
Yet God was saying something wasn’t good.
In this perfect, sinless, flawless world lived man, whom God created and said that he was “very good.” But God pointed out that it was not good for Adam to be alone. Wow!
Now, if community was important in a perfect world, it must be even more vital and significant in our fallen, broken, depraved world.
Even those without an understanding of the biblical origin of community recognize the power of community. When you look at the best professional golfers, they usually have a group of people around them (some even call it their support group!). This team has the player’s back all the time. Apart from their family, professional golfers typically have a caddy, a swing coach, a mental coach (usually a sports psychologist of some sort), and either an agent or a manager or both. This support group encourages the player and ultimately makes them better. So you can imagine that most players take their time deciding who should fill these important roles. These are trusted friends of the player.
When Patrick Reed notably suggested that he was a top-five caliber player, this was not something he offered as his own opinion. He said this was something that he and his team together believed. Isn’t this what you would expect from a well-chosen team, that they would all believe in the same direction?
As followers of Jesus, we also have big ideas. For one, we are trying to be a true reflection of him. That means we want to live as he has shown us and directed us to live—to do “all that he commanded us,” as the Great Commission says a disciple will do. This is not possible without the Holy Spirit indwelling us and without the body of Christ in which we live. Of course, each of us lives only “a little corner” of that body, with close believing friends who will help us grow as disciples of Jesus. This is our team, and together we are committed to believing more wholeheartedly in the one who has saved us. As we continue tomorrow, we’ll see how this can happen.
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Rosson Anderson
July 1, 2014
Copyright 2014 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.