Keeping the Fire Alive: Christian Community

There is the story of a woman who would gather her children together every Sunday morning and go to church while her husband stayed at home to read the newspaper. One Sunday she asked the pastor to come visit her husband and try to convince him to come back to church with the family.

As promised, the pastor came over for a visit. The two sat together in the room watching the fire in the fireplace, not speaking a word. After a few moments the pastor got up and removed a single coal and set it away from the fire. As the coal began to cool, it was dying and losing its glow. Then the pastor got up again to place the coal back into the fire. It wasn't long before the coal began to glow brightly again.

Finally, the pastor noticed a tear in the man's eye, and the man said, "I'll be in church this Sunday."

The man had realized in that moment that not only his relationship with God was dying, but that his relationship with his family was also suffering.

1 John 1:6-7a states that ”If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another..."

Beginning a relationship with Jesus is an individual decision however, in order to maintain that relationship, we need the community of believers. We need each others' encouragement and the sharing of each others' faith.

The past two years have been challenging to say the least. And it underscores the importance of relationship in all aspects of our lives - in our families, our workplaces, our schools, our marketplaces, and even church.

Our spirit is like that coal in the fire. When in community with other believers, the fire in our spirit glows brightly. But away from that community, that fire dies out along with our relationship with God and with each other.

How is the fire in your spirit?

Read:  1 John 6-7, Hebrews 10:24-25, Romans 12:4-5, Proverbs 27:17, Matthew 18:20