"We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish as fools." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Christ COMMUNITY Church.
WE are His.
Church is a Y'ALL thing.
A 3 in 1 God created us in His image with a need for interdependence on one another. There were several things that reminded me of that leading up to this weekend's Gathering. And as I scrolled through some of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s quotes on a day our country honors his legacy, the one used to title this post resonated with me:
"We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish as fools." - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Here's 4 related thoughts as head towards Love Shelbyville weekend:
How we use our freedom matters
D.J. brought this principle out as we engaged 1 Corinthians 6 on the issue of sexual immorality. Our sexual lives are one of many examples of areas that we've come to believe we are free to do as we wish. But Scripture, and D.J.'s faithful preaching, reminded us that how we use our freedom matters.
Romans 12 comes to mind as we're encouraged to use our freedom to offer ourselves as a "living sacrifices" as an act of "true worship." How would it change the way we live together if we used our freedom to serve and love others?
I so appreciate the example that Melissa and Melissa set not just in FCA but in several other ways! Thankful for their story!
The enemy loves to isolate us
It's been a crazy season and it's been eye opening how the enemy uses both hard things and good things to isolate us from biblical community. It can be hard to know how to "re-enter." In fact, we can often decide it's easier to live lonely or convince ourselves that we're living life in a way that's good for us.
The enemy loves to isolate us however he can.
Once we're isolated, it's a fight to get back to the community that God intends for us to have.
I've been realizing I often sulk instead of fighting for community.
Let God ask you the hard questions
In my sulking, I was exposed to the idea that the book of Jonah - the one where Jonah sulks.. a lot - ends in a question. And it's not just any question. It's a penentrating question about God's character that we assume forced Jonah to wrestle with his attitude a bit. You should go check it out..
It's good to let God ask you the hard questions.
The ones that force you to check your heart and attitude.
The Lord was good today to leave me with a couple of questions to wrestle with.
The first Love Shelbyville Day of 2026!
It's been one of the greatest lessons God has taught me in ministry: there's nothing quite like serving together that actually brings us together. I've often said, it's hard to be mad at the guy beside you when your hands are both in the dirt.
Christ Community, we'll watch for snow and keep you posted of any change in plans. For now, just head over to the sign-ups and find a place to get your hands dirty!
