A Community to Serve

Yes, it’s easier to be alone, but part of God’s purpose for our lives is to invest in each other.

Dec 08, 2023

May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory. (Romans 15:5-7)

Have you ever wondered why God made so many people? Or is that just the musing from an overwhelmed introvert?

Being alone is easier.

That’s not me being morose. It’s true. When you are alone and it’s just you, life is simpler. Easier. Less complicated. You don’t have to deal with difficult people. You don’t have to pretend for cheerful people. You don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to, or you don’t have to stop talking if you’d rather speak.

Life is easier alone. But it’s not better. And it’s not how God designed us to function.

You don’t have to be an extrovert to need other people in your life. You can be the most independent, resourceful, self-sufficient introvert on the planet, and if you don’t have a community around you, your life will be half-full.

God made us to need each other. God made us to need friends who do life with us. He made us to need communities that share burdens and rejoice in times of celebration and mourn in seasons of loss.

God could have left the Earth with just Adam on it. That certainly would have been easier—not just for Adam but also for God if you think about it. But out of everything God created, the only time God said something wasn’t good was when Adam was alone.

God didn’t make us to stay alone. He made a world full of unique, beautiful, colorful people with quirks and eccentricities and opinions, and if we choose to stay alone, we’re missing out.

Friendship is a gift. Community is a gift. God designed us to function as part of a whole—that’s what the Church is. A community of like-minded Jesus-followers.

Yes, it’s easier to be alone, but part of God’s purpose for our lives is to invest in each other. If you aren’t living that purpose, you’re going to feel lost. So choose a community to invest in. Live in the community you’ve been given.

A gift won’t do you much good if you never use it.