. . . if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself—Galatians 6:3
It usually takes men a while before they realize that we are built for community. What I mean is that many of us were taught that we need to make our own way, don’t admit our weaknesses and other advice we may have gotten growing up.
When we men finally accept that we’re designed for community with other men, we nearly always start with the wrong criteria for choosing which men. We each think, subconsciously almost, “If I’ve got to devote myself to a handful of other men, I’m going to make sure they have some kind of value to me or, at the very least, they’re men who won’t challenge me or make me uncomfortable.”
I believe that this way of thinking is driven by our culture and our pride—that we somehow know better than God how we should come together. But this is not how Jesus showed us how to build community. Throughout the Gospel, he spent time with people whom God the Father wanted him to—people with whom it made no sense to spend time, from a worldly perspective. I mean, look at the disciples that He called into his close alliance. They were quite different from each other.
Who have you built community with? Who do you trust as a Paul (an older mentor), Timothy (a younger mentee), or Barnabas (an accountability partner)?
My prayer for Three Point is that we would create a culture of community that pleases the LORD and blesses all men.