Common Denominator

I have been reading in the Proverbs a lot this past few days, and yet again I have been struck by simplicity and complexity of the proverbs when applying them in our Christian walk.  Today I read Proverbs 27 and 28.  Here are the verses that stuck out to me.

“Better is open rebuke then hidden love…As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another…As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man…He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy…Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.” (Proverbs 27:5, 17, 19; 28:13, 14)

These verses all can be taken apart or together.  Some might find it difficult to see what they have in common, but to me they all boil down to our instinct to want, and yet run from community. 

No one likes to be alone or feel lonely.  No one likes to feel like they don’t have anyone to run to in times of hurt or times of tragedy.  God created us to have this desire of community.  He created Adam and Eve.  He knew that we couldn’t make it by ourselves.  When the nation of Israel was created, and when the Church was born, God created community.  Their were laws of protection for outsiders.  There were times of celebration, times of worship as a community.  In the Church, believers shared their belongings.  They gave to one another so that everyone would have.  God created humanity to be in community.

And yet for some reason when times get really hard, or things get personal, we flee from community.  We try to hide.  Whether we are caught in sin or hiding sin, we don’t want it to get out for fear of what the community will do or say.  The community that was created for good has now become a community for judging and a place of fear of rejection, the very thing community was created to get rid of.

So as I read these verses, I am struck with the fact that I must be in community with other believers.  I must be willing to be challenged when I need challenged, to be sharpened in my faith when I need sharpened so that I might start reflecting God in my life.  If my heart reflects me, then I want my reflection to look like Jesus.

Common denominator.  A commonality found among a particular group of items by which the whole group can be divisible by.  These verses, when dividing why the common denominator (accountability) equals community!

May we all strive to have this denominator in our life so that we live in true, Godly community.  So that we can begin to look like the Church as God designed it to be.

Grace and Peace