Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Out of the Depths He Emerges...

having gone a solid 9 months without any submission I forgot how therapeutic writing can be. I set mind and fingers to keyboard in the hopes get some things off my mind.

A concept that has always been on my mind is "Community" within the body of Christ. What does it look like; how do we do it? Trouble is I haven't come up with a real good answer yet I have some ideas; such as we have a mentality of coming to serve instead of being served, giving instead of receiving, loving others rather waiting to be loved. Paul tells us in Philippians 2 that we are and we should have to same mind that was in Christ, "Who though he was in the form of God didn't consider equality with God a thing to be grasped, but rather he emptied himself,taking on the form of a servant."

earlier...Paul tells us..."Do nothing from rivalry or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves."

so from this I would take "community" to be those count others more significant than themselves..

And how is one to conduct oneself in relationship that at times seems to be merely "one-sided." My first thoughts go immediately to the 13th Chapter of 1st Corinthians in verse 4 "that Love is patient and kind, love is not envious or boastful, it is not arrogant nor is it rude, it does not insist on it's own way...my thoughts compel to think the Philippians passage as well that we are to consider other more significant than ourselves...we are to look not only our own interests of the interests of others as well.