That's why when we encounter Adam all alone, God declares that this is not good. How can man, made in the image of God, display God, who Himself is in community, if he (man) is alone? That, I am sure, is one reason why God quickly acted to bring a "complement" to Adam, so that he and Eve might better be able to reflect the self-giving exchange that has happened in the Trinity throughout eternity.
As we move into our New Testament, Acts 2 (today's reading), we see that the concept of community is still very strong. God is now forming a new community whose mission it is to display the glory of God. God fills this people with His Spirit and, as a result, this community begins to pour out love to one another in an amazing way - selling possessions to meet the needs of others. There must have been such a sense of oneness.
I know for me, the concept of "imaging" God by pouring out my life and love in the context of community is compelling. I (and you) were made for such as this! But I know I do this so imperfectly. There is a force in this world, yes, even in my own heart, that wants to be self-grasping and not self-giving. How I need to rely on the Spirit to transform me and hopefully through me, the community in which I have been placed!
How did God instruct you this day from the reading?
What struck me in Matt. 2 was how hope Joseph's heart was to God and what God had to say to him. And how instanteous and unquestioning his immediate obediance to what God told him to do through the angels, even though this often was contrary to what the Jewish world would have done at that time.
ReplyDeleteThinking on this prompts me to think about how open and responsive I am to what God tells me to do. Do I immediately respond or do I delay and question what I feel him telling me to do?