One Desire Fast is HMCC’s annual fast so we can start off the year hearing from God, both individually and as a church. This year’s theme is Saturate.
Ephesians 4:31-32 ESV – Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Have you ever interacted with someone in your LIFE Group and thought to yourself, “Wow, they are very different from me! Why are they like that?” or “Hmm… I don’t want to be in the same community as them.” Living in Christian community is not always easy. Yesterday, we saw a positive example of a Biblical community. But today, we’ll talk about the struggles we might experience. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul uses the metaphor of the human body to explain a healthy and functioning community of believers, where many different parts work together to live out as one body in Christ. Sometimes, however, these differences can also cause disagreement and conflict, which lead to unhealthy and dysfunctioning communities, where harshness, rejection, and isolation breed. At this point, we might want to give up on meeting up, let alone on being involved. These distorted experiences within the community may leave us wondering how to reconcile those experiences with what we know of God or what we think people who follow God should be like.
Some of us may have experienced these struggles in LIFE groups. No community is perfect because of our human depravity. In Romans 7, Paul talks about how the sin that dwells within us controls us and plagues all of our hearts. But He ends the chapter thanking Jesus for rescuing us from sin and empowering us with His Spirit to overcome. Like what we learned yesterday, a Biblical community is different because Jesus is at the center of it and this empowers us to impact others. This could look like learning to give grace, mercy, and forgiveness to others because of how God loved us first (Ephesians 4:31-32). But this also gives us courage to face the sins and brokenness of ourselves and others, and bring them to Jesus and ask Him to do His redemption work in us and through us.
Were there any moments when you felt hurt or hurt others? Are there moments you felt challenged to be vulnerable and share your weaknesses with those in your LIFE Group? It is definitely important to process through it and shift our focus to Jesus instead of ourselves. If you have been hurt, how can you forgive others knowing that Jesus has forgiven you? If you have hurt others, how can you repent, receive God’s grace for yourself and humbly ask for forgiveness? If you feel compelled to share openly, what fears hinder you from being vulnerable? In a Biblical community, there are opportunities like these to live out the Gospel, and to impact others with God’s love. When we remember how Christ’s love impacted us in our brokenness, we can ask Him to give us love for those in our community. When our own love runs out, only God’s love can compel us to love one another (John 13:34-35).
As we continue fasting, there will be times that our flesh gets a hold on us. Differences, conflicts and even fears may impact us more than the love and truths of Christ. Let’s point each other back to Christ and persevere through this fast as one community!
Reflection and Application
- Have you personally been impacted by disagreement, conflict or struggles within a Biblical community? How have these experiences shaped your perspective on a Biblical community and your relationships with the people in it?
- How can you actively contribute to the healing and restoration of your community? Are there specific steps you can take to promote love, forgiveness and unity?
Praises and Prayers Topics – HKUST
Praises:
- During missions month this past season, our LGs in our campus were able to do an outreach to reach the TKO district that we were in. We were able to see many people on our campus participating in impacting the neighborhood that we live in. Many of us were sharing that it was a powerful experience and that it helped them to recognize that God wanted to open their eyes to the people around them. We praise God that He allowed people to experience this and that it has led our campus to want to take steps in impacting the people around us.
Prayer Topics:
- Pray for a deeper community to be built up in our campus that we can really display the goodness of God to the people around us.
- Pray for a deeper conviction to live out our faith in spite of the trials that we face in our lives.
Click here for full devotional link and for PDF version