To Love the Truth Day 29: Truth in Community

Today's strategy is one I know is important, but I must be honest and say this is a hard one for me to live out.  As I've mentioned a few times on this blog, I have a lot of anxiety surrounding church involvement.  It's hard for me to feel as if I fit in and I tend to keep my relationships with church friends at a surface level.

In order to learn to love the truth and walk in truth, we must surround ourselves with a community that will tell us the truth --a community that will challenge us to live out truth and remind us of truth as a means of comfort.

Daily Bible reading and a personal quiet time are helpful but not sufficient.  In fact, as my pastor pointed out on Sunday, the quiet time phenomenon is a new one.  For most of church history, Bible study has been a communal experience.  We need each other.

It's so important that the New Testament alone uses the word "together" about 100 times.

Do not give up meeting together...

Raise your voices together...

Strive together...

Work together for the truth...

And this, the example of the early church:

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This is why we are to do this thing together: so that others will see and hear the truth and be saved.

It's not just beneficial to unbelievers, however.  There is great value for those who are already saved.

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work. 

It's in community that we are able to speak the truth to each other.  When we heed those words and learn from them we will grow to become mature in Christ. We will not become deceived but will be confident that we know the truth....together.