Begin with two minutes of silence and stillness before God.
There was one time that I walked into a church basketball tournament in a family life center holding a Gatorade. I was quickly admonished as I came through the door by a lady who told me, “These drinks had no place in the Lord’s House.” I quickly left and didn’t come back. Another time, at another church, I arrived a few minutes late and left a few minutes early. I didn’t want any attention or for anyone to even know I was there. I was hurting and didn’t want to interact with people, but knew I needed to be in the Lord’s presence. Shortly after I left that day, I got a text from someone who noticed me at church. They told me how glad they were I was there. I immediately felt seen and loved, even though that was what I was subconsciously trying to avoid. Quite a different experience.
In verses 1 and 2 of 1 Timothy 5, Paul tells Timothy how to relate to different age groups. The guidance encourages us to see one another through the lens of a family, showing love and deep respect, fostering a sense of unity, and belonging to our church community. How we interact with others in our church family can have such an impact on their lives as well as our own. In the two examples I gave at the beginning of this devo, I was a believer looking for community and a place to worship God. One interaction sent me far away from that community and the other drew me in. Within a sentence of interaction, my course was changed in both situations. There’s power in our words and in our interactions. By interacting with grace and love, we contribute to a warm, welcoming atmosphere where people can be drawn to God and a biblical community. By embracing this warm and welcoming atmosphere, we get to see people get plugged in and experience God - sometimes for the first time in their lives. In turn, their families - as well as those around them in day-to-day life - experience God. All of this happens because we were conscious of how we interacted with one another at church.
Take two minutes to reflect in silence.