Colossians 3:15-17

Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way. — Colossians 3:15-17, The Message

I love this image of the peace of Christ keeping us in tune with each other. It is this reminder of the one-anotherness of living in the way of Christ.

We live in a world where “going off and doing your own thing” is of the highest value. Yet, in the way of Christ, it is of little to no value. We are a people, a family, a one-another.

In my background there was this line of thinking that we could pursue a “just-me-and-Jesus” kind of spirituality. But, that is just not simply who we are or what we are called to. If we are going to try and follow Jesus in our lives then we need others with us. We need community. We need one another.

We are a one-another.

It is within this context that everything else connects here. We are to cultivate thankfulness. Have you ever thought about that word, “cultivate”? It means to “prepare and use” or “acquire or develop.” Thankfulness is not something that we come by naturally. We have to work at it. We must cultivate it in our lives. I love that it is couched here in the context of our one-anotherness because I have found that when I am deeply connected in community I am much more thankful.

It is in our one-anotherness that we speak gospel to each other. It is in our one-anotherness that we give it room to grow and develop and have its way.

The beauty of the gospel is that it grows in us. We don’t make some intellectual ascent and then BOOM!!! we are just like Jesus. No, we need a community of one-another to remind us of grace, mercy, compassion, and to love well.

Do you have your one-another community or are you trying to live this life isolated and alone?