Remember what Paul wrote to the Corinthians about love? He was saying that he could be this super-sized Christian, living a faith-life large and beautiful but if he didn't have love then he had nothing and was nothing. You can be the most dynamic, Holy Spirit filled, power wielding Christian achieving great things but if you do not understand and so do not act from a position of love then it amounts to nothing.
Faith is not something we develop. It is something that has been given to us and it increases according to the Spirit. Our responsibility is to act on the faith that we have and as we are faithful to this the Spirit will increase it. That is his work. But this faith is a gift of love that is for the benefit of the community in which we continue to daily work out our salvation.
We are not to live in isolation, and I know this can be hard because not everyone thinks like us. Every Christian is at a different place in their maturity and their revelatory knowledge. This is why our community bond is not based on our knowledge but on what we have in common, which is the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and our love for each other. We are a community because of love not because of knowledge. And we are able to function together in our differences because of this supernatural, over-the-top, self sacrificing, person-focused, celebratory, selfless love.
Just as faith does not originate in us neither does love, and it is this gift of love that enables us to live in community with all our diversity. Let me repeat myself : It is not a bond of knowledge but a bond of love. This is not setting aside the importance of revelatory knowledge, just setting the priority that after everything else passes love remains. Realize, love is even greater than faith because you need love to make faith authentic.
This is important to grasp because it tells us the importance of community. Faith is worked out in community because it is in community that we get to exercise love. It is not simply loving those who love and value us. Jesus asked where the value is in that. The love gifted to us is great enough to form a bond between people who may not see the same way or accept the same things. In the world they may have been enemies but in Christ they are family, brothers and sisters. There is no getting around this. This is truth because it is Father's will and design. We must choose love.
When we try living for Christ by our old nature we will find we desire to be a lone-wolf, to be in isolation, to shout for a mountain top instead of walking with the family. We miss the principle of "iron sharpens iron" and miss the Lord's voice when we aren't paying attention. Our community, our tribe, our family is there to lift us up, encourage us and to remind us of the King's promises. We are there to laugh with each other, to cheer in times of someone else's victory and to cry in times of loss. If we see ourselves set apart from the body, who is going to encourage us in the day of evil? We are also easy pickings for the enemy because when we are alone we are weak and vulnerable.
Faith is lived out in community. Faith is increased by the Spirit when we live what we have. Community happens because of the bonds of love, not the bonds of knowledge. Love means we are united even with people who see differently from us because love is from the Spirit and it is the Spirit who unites us. Unity does not happen because we will it. Unity happens because we choose it. It already exists and we need only walk in it. In this community of love we will find all kinds of places to exercise our faith and see it rewarded with increase. We are in this together.
Faith is possible. Love is possible. Unity is possible. And it is all found in community.
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