“And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,” declares the Lord, “and I will be its glory within.”
|| Zechariah 2:5 ||NLT ||
We talk about breaking down walls between races, between sexes and so on. We don’t talk enough about building walls to protect our brothers and sisters, walls to redemptively keep out negative aspects of the world. We need protective wall, which is to say we need community, which is to say (according to Zechariah) that we need God.
Jesus created at least three communities. First there were the twelve disciples, who were given authority to spread the good news. A second, more intimate level of community existed between Jesus and the three closest to him: Peter, James and John. A third level of community was the little-mentioned “seventy”. This larger group of disciples was responsible for paving the way before Jesus arrived into a given area.
Community was a sustaining force to Jesus’ person and ministry. And it provided the foundation for the church universal that he would build.
JOURNAL: To what communities do you belong, either formally or informally? How does each one aid your spiritual growth?
Taken from Joy in the Journey Through the Year by Michael Card. ©2007 by Michael Card. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, IL 60515-1426. www.ivpress.com
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