community

We sure do alot of talking. Cell phones are in use constantly. We connect with people constantly on the internet through chat and email.

Even with all this communication I still doubt that we know how to live in loving, God honoring community.

Loneliness is taking hold of us. But wait, dont we have more communication than ever? A 1990 study by Gallup tells us 36% of Americans are lonely. Even married people are lonely.

Desperate, most of us run to our doctors and pick up some form of anti-depressants. Happiness in a bottle? No, just a band-aid for a mangled leg.

Roughly, 50% of all marriages end in divorce. How? When we default to our own reasoning to how to live and reject the authority of Jesus and his scripture in our lives, we are doomed to fail.

No wonder the suicide rate is ever increasing. People are given more anti-depressants than ever, have more forms of communication than ever, are divorcing more than ever, are making more money than ever, and still people are reaching the point to take their own God-given life.

In a 2001 study done by Kevin Caruso, he states that nearly 84 people a day commit suicide.

Its the responsibility of the church to teach that loving relationships, accountability, and community are crucial to growing in Christ. The problem is too many churches are satisfied with pews freshly warmed by attendees, instead of proclaiming the truth of what the Church in Acts 2 modeled for us.

Believers who are "devoted to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" make an impact on the world around them.

It's not that we do not desire true community, its that most of us don't think that is what church is.

This summer I helped a friend (who I consider a brother) move into a house that he and his soon-to-be wife would be living. See, he called me because he knew, with all of the stuff that he had, it would take him a long time, not to mention it probably wouldn't be good on the old back. So I was glad to help to make the move and it only took about half the time it would have had he done it by himself.

That is what true community is like. We all have our burdens to carry, its when we get into community and we pray for each other that that burden is spread out among many.