2021 Daily Devotion - Day 417

-
“Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification. It is a gift from God which we cannot claim.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I don’t know about you, but the biggest adjustment for me during the recent pandemic was the inability to physically interact with my church community, my Cursillo brothers and sisters, as well as my couples’ and men’s small groups. I missed the nourishment that each of these regularly provided.

Practically speaking, the Journal of American Medical Association has reported there are even health benefits linked to fellowship versus isolation. As stated in the New York Times, “The incidence of infection among people who knew many different kinds of people was nearly half of that among those who were regularly isolated. The lack of diverse contacts was the strongest of the risk factors for colds that were examined, including smoking, low vitamin C intake, and stress.”

The truth is that we are naturally designed by God to be in community. In other words, we are not designed to go it alone. The Lord God Himself said in Genesis that man (Adam) should not be alone, so Eve was subsequently created.

I’m so thankful we are once again able to physically worship together in community! It’s food for the soul!

Proverbs 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

Pray with me:
Father, we thank You for designing us to be in community where we can find care, support, and encouragement from one another. We also thank You because we are once again able to gather for worship in Your house; sharing our love for You and for each other. We pray this in Jesus’s name. Amen.

Clint Refsnyder
Past President of Mount of Olives Church Congregation, Church Council
Mount of Olives Church
Tags:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2021 Daily Devotion - Day 369

-
Palm Sunday Matthew 21:1-11NRSV When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying, “Tell the daughter of Zion, look, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes i...
More »

2020 Daily Devotion - Day 81

-
John 15:15 NRS I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. From an article on some of the great hymns of the church, we learn about the hymn, “What a Friend we have in Jesus”:   In 1844 a young Irishman, Joseph Scriven, had completed his college education and returned home to marry his sweetheart. As he was traveling to meet her on the day before the planned wedding, he came upon a horrible scene—his beautiful fiancée tragically lying under the water in a creek bed after falling off her horse. Later, Scriven moved to Canada and eventually fell in love again, only to experience devastation once more when she became ill and died just weeks before their marriage. For the second time, this humble Christian felt the loss of the woman he loved. The following year, he wrote a poem to his mother in Ireland that desc...
More »

2020 Daily Devotion - Day 120

-
"An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?" Many people often look at the negative side of life. President Reagan used to say that when people do this, it’s as if when you “give them a silver lining, they will find a cloud”. Of course, he was using the old saying “in every cloud, there is a silver lining” and reversing it to make a point. It is very important to be a “glass half full” kind of person. Looking for and expecting good things helps us to stay hope-filled. So, on this new day, be a positive person. Look for the good in everything. Look for hope in everything. Refuse to let yourselves dwell on the negative. Speak to others in inspirational ways, and you will find that your days will be better. Ephesians 4:29 ESV Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Pray with Me: Heavenly Father, so many peop...
More »