We were made in the image of God, and that truth carries more weight than most of us realize. When God said, "Let us make mankind in our image," the word "us" points to something profound. Within the one God, there are three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For all of eternity, they have existed in perfect, unbroken relationship with one another. Community is not something God created as an afterthought. It is part of who He is. And because we are made in His image, it is part of who we are too.

Even so, most of us believe one of two lies that keep us from the community we were designed for. The first is that we do not belong. We look around at the people in our church or our lives and convince ourselves that we are too different, too broken, or too far behind to fit in. The second lie is that we do not need anyone. We dress it up in spiritual language, telling ourselves that our faith is personal and private, but what we are really doing is quietly withdrawing. Paul addresses both of these lies directly in 1 Corinthians 12, reminding us that the body is made of many parts, and no part can say to another, "I don't belong" or "I don't need you." When one part of the body is wounded, the rest of the body moves toward it, not away from it.

This is the pattern we see throughout Scripture. Joseph moved toward the brothers who betrayed him. The father ran toward the prodigal son who had rejected him. The Good Samaritan stopped for his lifelong enemy. In every case, healing came through moving toward, not away. And the greatest example of all is Jesus Himself, who moved toward us when we had turned away from God. He entered our world, lived among us, and died in our place so that we would never have to be separated from the Father. That is the foundation for why we move toward one another, even when it is painful. Not because it comes naturally, but because it is what He did for us.