What Distorted the Importance of Relationships and Community?

Human beings were created for community.

We aren’t meant to live our lives on our own. We are designed with both a capacity and a desire to know others and be known by them. We want to celebrate good times with faithful friends. In difficult times, we appreciate the company of people who care. At our core, we all long for authentic connection and dependable support from other people.

Sadly, many people today don’t have those kinds of relationships. Researchers have found that growing numbers of people can’t name one person with whom they can talk about openly and honestly about their lives. Blame for this trend could be passed around in multiple directions, but the fact remains that social isolation has become a real problem.

God always existed in community.

As a Trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, God has always existed in community. In fact, each person of the Godhead can be seen playing a role in the story of creation. Genesis 1.1-3 ESV says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

In those verses, we see God the Father as the grand designer. God the Spirit is there, watching over the project. The word that is spoken brings into being what the Father envisioned. Later, in John’s Gospel, we discover that the Word is Jesus: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” John 1.1, 14 ESV.

From the beginning, God has been in community, and it’s in God’s image that we are made. “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them,” Genesis 1.27 NLT. As God’s image bearers, we are created with the capacity and desire for community. In fact, in the account of creation, the only thing that is described as “not good” is that the man was alone. “Then the LORD God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him,” Genesis 2.18 ESV.

The scene demonstrates the importance of relationships and community. But sin distorted God’s design. Because of sin, community was corrupted. Instead of coming together, people moved apart. Through the cross, however, Jesus has made a way to restore what sin has damaged. In Christ, we are brought together into a new community called the church.

This blog originally appeared at: What Distorted the Importance of Relationships and Community? – discipleFIRST and features an excerpt from one of their Student Series books, Walk With God.