Community

Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior (Psalm 25:5).

No matter where you live, you are part of a community. Whether you reside on a farm or have an apartment in a large metropolitan area, there are several hundred people that you see often enough to recognize on sight. Most are casual acquaintances, while some know your habits well enough to predict what you’ll order from the menu or which section of the store you prefer to browse. The point is that you know these people, and to some extent, their opinion of you matters.

It starts in school. We don’t like being singled out as the oddball. If someone seems to be out of step with most of the other kids, there is pressure to conform. This continues into adulthood; the people you work with, the people in your neighborhood, the people you see in the store or walking down the street—they all react negatively if you dress or behave outside of what’s expected.

The pressure to conform can be a good thing—it can limit behavior that is dangerous or antisocial. But the Internet has changed all that. Through the World Wide Web, people who have felt pressured to conform can get in touch with others who share their interests. The Internet has allowed people to form communities that celebrate racism, eating disorders, violence, and child molestation, among other things. In the past, few people were willing to act on their secret desires for fear of community backlash; but with the support of friends connected by the Internet, more people have become willing to say and do things that defy community standards.

We need to belong to a community that holds us accountable for our actions. We need to belong to a community that encourages the best in human behavior. We need the guiding influence of the community founded by Jesus, the holy Christian Church. The Church is not holy because of its members—we are all sinners who disappoint and anger God with our foolish and selfish decisions. The Church is holy because it offers us a connection with the only one who is holy, the Son of God. Through the Church, Jesus shows us what holiness is. He calls us on our bad behavior, and forgives us when we try to put evil ways behind us. With the Lord’s help, we can have success conforming to God’s holy ways and in suppressing the evil desires that want to control us.