NO BIBLE NO BREAKFAST DAILY BIBLE REFLECTIONS AND MORE

REFLECTION
Faithful Community is the theme for reflection. To be faithful means to be loyal and steadfast. A community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. The church is referred to as a community of faith. It is a community of faith because all believers worship God and believe Jesus is Christ as the Lord and Saviour. A faithful Community is, therefore a church loyal or steadfast in their walk with God. We proceed to deliberate on the key features of a Faithful community.
1. A faithful community is an imitator of Christ
2. A faithful community is loyal to God and is hopeful for the return of Jesus Christ.

Firstly, a faithful community is an imitator of Christ, Paul commends the Church of Thessalonica when he wrote that “We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, ³ remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ…And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷ so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3,6-7). The community of faith in Thessalonica was known for faithfully following the perfect example of Jesus Christ through obedience to His Word. Their faithfulness as imitators of Christ influenced their service to God which is their work of faith. Their faithfulness as imitators of Christ made them experience unconditional love in the church, Again their faithfulness as imitators of Christ led them to share a mutual and unwavering faith and hope in Christ thereby becoming examples to other churches. It is also important to mention that the community of faith in Thessalonica was determined to be faithful imitators of Christ through the hearing of His Word because they were empowered by the Holy Spirit. Dear friend, when we allow the Word of God to live in our hearts and we become faithful by imitating Christ or following His perfect examples, there is nothing we cannot accomplish as a faithful community of believers. Jesus invites us to be a faithful community when said “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. ⁹ As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. (John 15:7-10) Again, when we are faithful imitators of Christ as a Church, we can say with Paul that “I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13). It is rather sad that in some churches or communities of faith, we do not see believers imitating Christ therefore there is so much division, resentment, bitterness, faithlessness, aparthy and spiritual retrogression found among the community of believers. We need revival, we need to go back to our first love, Jesus Christ. In the book of Revelations, Jesus told the Church of Ephesus, “I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. (Revelation 2:4-5) In other words, we are being reminded to go back to our faithfulness to Christ as a community of faith. That is the only way we can please God. Everyone in the community of faith has a role to play toward the revival of the Church.

Secondly, A faithful community is loyal to God and is hopeful for the return of Jesus Christ. Paul again commended the Church of Thessalonica, when he wrote that “you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, ¹⁰ and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10). The faithfulness of a community of believers is demonstrated in its focus on God and striving for the eternal life. Today, the new idol worship competing for our faithfulness to God is materialism and the love of money. Many of us have become Sunday worshippers. From Monday to Saturday, we are faithful to our businesses and work and there is nothing that indicates that we acknowledge the presence of God in our lives throughout the week. Everything about our movement or activities is centred on wealth acquisition and material possession. It is for this reason, Jesus said to His disciple “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸ therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38). There are many people in the Community of faith purporting to be true disciples of Christ yet we are not ready to faithfully serve God with our time, energy and resources. To show that we are a faithful community detached from the love of the world, Jesus admonishes us that “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30). It is only when we have God at the centre and focus of our lives that our hope in the return of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is complete. In other words, our hope in the return of Jesus is incomplete and our faithfulness is questionable if we focus on worldly possession than heavenly possessions. A faithful community is focused on its heavenly possession hence, its love for God and hope in the return of Jesus Christ to usher all faithful believers into eternal glory.

In summary, we have deliberated on the theme ” Faithful Community” We have discovered that the key features of a faithful community are; It is an imitator of our Lord Jesus Christ and again, It is loyal to God and hopeful for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. Shalom.

PRAYER
1. Let us pray to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to the perfect imitators of our Lord Jesus Christ as a faithful community.
2. Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to enable us to be loyal to God and remain hopeful for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Let us pray that we shall become spiritually revived members of the faithful community.

Thank you Jesus for saving us and making us precious members of Your community of faith. May we remain faithful in our calling as a community of faith to carry out our mission of bringing the world to Your saving knowledge even as await Your second coming. Amen