Created for Community

I believe we were all created with the inborn need to be around people, to find people that are like us in some way. Similar personality, common pain, similar sense of humor, common struggles, same hobby, common love for sports or sports team. We are drawn to those that we share a thread of similarity to. And it seems to me the rarer the struggle, the stronger the bond. For instance, if you have child with a very rare disability, but find someone half way around the globe that share the exact same diagnoses, suddenly you are not so alone, and you create a sense of community and a bond that makes you feel like you “belong” somewhere.

One of Satan’s biggest and best tricks he plays on us is isolation, when he can convince it is best to draw away from people, for whatever reason, he gets some pretty big hooks in us. If he can tell us “no one knows what you are going through, you are alone in your struggles” then you begin to isolate yourself and then you will begin to believe more and more of his lies because you have no one to counter act them.  Of course no one has been through EXACTLY what you have been through and could never have walked the EXACT same path as you. Even siblings growing up in the same house, having the same parents have different experience from the same background. But the truth is, that there are enough people that have been through enough things, that there is help for whatever it is you are going through. Isolation, and withdrawing is never the answer.

 Finding a community isn’t hard, there is a church on every street corner in every city in America.  There are support groups for all kinds of things from drug abuse, to anger, to over eating, to….you name it. If you have a hobby, find someone else that does too.  We were created to be around people, if you find yourself feeling the desire to draw away recognize it as a trap of the enemy to pull you away from God’s best in your life. He wants the exact opposite of what God wants. When you want to be alone really really bad, call someone to hang out or throw a party and really make the devil mad.  When you think “I don’t feel like going to church tonight” that is the time you need to go the most. Remember alone is bad, with people is good.