Impacting Your Community
Matthew 23:11-12 The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
The more affluent we become as a society, the less dependent we become on one another. It’s true.
Back when I was a kid, no, supermarkets weren’t open 24/7. In fact, the banks closed at 3:00pm Friday afternoon and the shops closed for the weekend at midday on Saturday.
So if you ran out of something that you needed, you went and borrowed it from your extended family, or from your neighbour next door. That’s just how it was.
Of course, these days, that’s silly. You just duck down to the local convenience store or the supermarket, pretty much any time of the day or night, on any day of the week.
For those of us who live in affluent societies, this sense of not needing one other so much anymore, this disintegration of community if you will, has just crept up on us. We don’t even notice it.
I was in India recently and there, you see the profound difference between their culture and the western culture in which I live – it hits me right between the eyes every time. The Indians are much more family and community oriented than we westerners. Community is such a powerful thing – it’s almost as though they think more collectively, than they do individually.
And that’s something about which we westerners, living in so–called “developed economies” frankly, have a lot to learn about.
A few years back, a rather loud, well known footballer recorded a song titled “I am an individual”. Sure, we all are, but sometimes we take it way too far. Yeah we’re all unique, but it’s our combined uniqueness that makes for fantastic community.
Can I ask you – what are you doing to serve your community? Your neighbours; the local sports club; the owners’ corporation in the apartment complex where you live; your church. To what extent are you involved, not just with a circle of friends, but in actually rolling up your sleaves and helping someone else?
The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted. (Matthew 23:11-12)
Too many of us are in the business of cocooning ourselves, wrapping ourselves, in comfort and safety. And then we wonder why life seems to have has lost its edge. Why there’s no contentment and satisfaction. And we wonder why the Christian message is being rejected en masse, by the world at large.
When all along, opportunities abound for us to share the practical love of Jesus Christ, with people in need. What are you doing to serve your community?
The greatest among you will be the servant of all.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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