1-28-24 follow-up

1 Thessalonians 2:17 – 3:13
Let’s do life together

I shared yesterday this caption I found years ago.

“Community is not just about being together, it’s about doing life together, thanks for doing life with me”.

What does it mean to do life together? Aren’t we doing life together when we gather on Sundays? Not necessarily. When we are doing life together with other believers, we are sharing our struggles and victories with them. I see our gatherings such as Sundays and Wednesdays as a point of connection. Those gatherings allow us to connect. It allows us to make connections with those we don’t know. It allows us to find out what is going on in each of our lives. These gatherings are what allow us to begin the process of doing life together.

Doing life together doesn’t end when the service ends. We need those connections to continue throughout the week. This is what allows us to strengthen and encourage one another. We can strengthen and encourage one another through the sharing of God’s word. By reminding one another what we know to be true. And by encouraging one another to put into practice the things we learn from the Bible.

We need to use the things available to us to stay connected as well as the tools to build one another up. One of the most valuable tools God has given us is prayer. When we pray for one another, we are reminded of what is going on in each of our lives. In addition, we are also sharing in the life of the person we pray for. When another believer is struggling and we pray for them, we come alongside them and support them in their struggle. When we pray for them and there is victory, we share in their victory.

As you go forth this week, make sure you are doing life with your brothers and sisters in Christ. The body of Christ is stronger when we do life together rather than doing life independently.