Letting the Church Restore You

Read 1 John 4:7-21

For today’s devotional, Christina shared about how the church can bring you people that are both easy to love and difficult to love. She shared about a wonderful friend she made while here in the U.S. It was one of those friendships that was easy to form, they shared many things in common, and enjoyed their time together in fellowship and prayer.

But Christina was also able to see how the church can restore and heal us if we allow God the opportunity. In Christina’s case, the church family that was difficult to love was actually for her friend. You see, her friend was from a culture that experienced terrible things at the hand of another culture. Christina just happened to be serving in the context of that second culture when her friend came to visit.

After spending a few days with Christina’s local church in that culture, the friend confessed to Christina that she had initially been very hesitant to come visit due to those deep cultural divisions. Her friend said, however, that this short visit had provided deep healing of these divisions in her heart- and it was done through the local church.

Read 1 John 4:7-21 and reflect on Christina’s story. How can you allow relationships within the church heal pains or divisions you are carrying in your heart?

Use this devotional as an opportunity to host a conversation with your friends, family, neighbors or small group. After watching today’s video post on eastbrook.org/devotionals/werefamily, use these steps to discuss the Bible passage for today:

• One person reads the Bible passage out loud while everyone else follows along.
• Each person take a turn restating the passage in their own words.
• Read the passage again.
• Have each person answer these questions:
  • “What does this tell me about God?”
  • “What does this tell me about me?”
  • “What does this tell me I ought to do?”
• Have each person share who they know that they will share this with.

by Christina Winrich