A PRECLUSION FOR LONELINESS

Community is about inclusion. Think about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s  speech in 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial.  It was about inclusion of people of color along with elimination of the manacles of segregation and chains of discrimination.

Lack of inclusion creates loneliness.

With our schedules the way they are, there is little to no room for a relational place known as community. Just like the absence of light is darkness, the absence of community is loneliness.

God saw that man being alone was not good so he made man to have community. We see this in Genesis 1 and Genesis 2.  While there is a God-shaped void inside of every person, there is also a human-shaped void that God will not fill with Himself. He didn’t fill that void with Himself when He made man and He won’t fill that human-shaped void today. So He built us for community and He also provided us with a model for community.

Throughout Scripture, God the Father is pointing everyone toward God the Son (Matthew 17:1-5 and Mark 13:32-37).  God the Son submits to God the Father (Mark 3:31-35 and Mark 14:32-36). God the Father and God the Son are positively pointing us to all three parts of the Trinity. It is the exact opposite of serving self.

Think of how it affected those in Scripture when they let the Holy Spirit change their behaviors in Acts 2:36-47. Not only did they receive the Holy Spirit, they let it control their lives.Allowing the Holy Spirit to lead our lives today manifests itself in the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-26).

The primary reason that we have relationship problems is that we forget that it is not about us. God didn’t make us to be self-serving but to be serving others.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to manifest itself, showing that God does indeed live in and through us, we won’t have relationship problems and loneliness becomes a non-issue. If we live out what Jesus said are the two greatest commandments, loving God and loving others, we consequently will have great community.

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