Day 17 Devotion
Day 17
A COMMUNITY OF FAITH, LOVE, & HOPE
By Lauralynn Wagner
There is a church in California that describes itself this way: “A community of faith, love, and hope.” I love that because I think it perfectly sums up what the church as a body should look like, and what people outside the church are looking for us to be.
Church should be a true community. The word itself infers communion with one another, intimacy in relationships. Community is about being involved in each other’s lives in a meaningful way, sharing one another’s burdens and
successes outside the four walls of the church.
Church is a place of faith. Faith in a reality beyond what we can see or touch. Faith in a real and personal God who created us for loving intimacy with Him. And faith that when we cannot see His hand at work, we can trust His heart.
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:35 NIV Ultimately, church is defined by love. Love for one another, for the unlovable, for the poor, the marginalized, and the forgotten. We are the hands and feet of the compassionate Christ.
If nowhere else, church must be the place where hope is found for all…rich and poor, young and old, strong and weak. Christ described us as a city on a hill…a light in a darkened world. This Gospel we proclaim says that not only is there hope beyond this life, but that God is as work here and now…and through Him, change can come.
All of these were the qualities I was seeking and found at TCF. So may we continue to grow in our communion with each other. May our faith deepen in the Lover of our soul. May we always be known by our love. And may our hope shine and break forth like the dawn.
