Community

I told the congregation where I spoke on Sunday:

"I do not think it is possible to grow spiritually apart from community. It is not just the support and the encouragement, although that is extremely important. It is the rubbing edges against people. Other people point out your growing areas.

The opposite is likewise true. If you have bad habits or some dangerous addiction you are trying to break, how important is the community you are a part of? Are you hanging around people who participate in what you are trying to cease? Your efforts are in all likelihood doomed to failure! Are you around folks who have broken free of that issue? Then, your chances of success dramatically increase."