Are you longing to be a part of a group? Are you looking to be an active participant socially? Do you want to be with others who have your best interest at heart, who care for you? Are you willing to make a change in yourself to be part of a wonderful group?
We all long to be part of a group. We want to be seen and heard. We desire to be accepted. We long to be loved and cared for by others. Unfortunately, far too many look in the wrong direction and we often miss experiencing the love right in front of us.
There is no doubt our world needs more love, more care, more acceptance, and more compassion for one another. We can often trace negative behavior to a desire to be seen, to be recognized, an effort to fill the desire for love. Our desire for recognition can cause us to act badly simply to get someone to pay attention to us, even if it is negative attention.
Our world has promoted the idea of being acknowledged by others for years. It has recently evolved into having thousands of friends or likes on Facebook or being a YouTuber with thousands of followers. This type of attention doesn’t fill the void we have any more than the fame of a movie star or sports star fills the void. We still need the individual, one-on-one attention.
There is a place we can get the attention and love we long for—the body of Christ. We are called to be of one Spirit, one mind, and have the same love for one another. When we are an active part of the body of Christ, we experience the love and care we long for.
What does it mean to be an active member? It means to be involved, talk with one another, lay out your joys and your troubles, interact with each other, share each other’s lives. We may shy away from that, thinking we won’t really be cared for. Yet, we turn to medicating ourselves and talking with people we don’t really know to relieve our pain.
Why not share our lives with people who will pray for us? My experience has shown that having people pray for you is a wonderful way to grow into a better person. It simply takes a small commitment on our part to participate with others who will care for us as the body of Christ.
I pray we all decide to participate in the body of Christ. I pray we share in the Spirit of Christ, loving one another. I pray each of us will commit to being of the same mind as Christ and are filled with love. Be of the same spirit as Christ. Be a participant in the body of Christ. Have the same love. Pray for one another.
Philippians 2:1-2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.
Marty Pressey 