Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; Genesis 2:18

There’s a secret society in the local mall…

I discovered it this winter…

When the temperature dropped to -5 with a wind chill of -20…

When the snow covering the walking path in our neighborhood rose above my ankles…

I took my walk inside…

I became one of those people who spends part of the lunch hour walking in the local mall.

During those walks, I discovered a secret society at the mall…

a society of mall walkers.

I saw the same faces day after day…

Two guys in their thirties, wearing name badges from the nearby office building…

Two women pushing baby strollers in front of them…

John… probably in his seventies… who walked by himself, but stopped to talk with every shopkeeper, and ended his walk with a cup of coffee in the food court with a group of friends…

Walking sounds like such a solitary pursuit.

But these people were not alone-they were seeking community…

Why do we seek community?

Because God did not make us to live alone…

 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Genesis 2:18

God built us to need each other…

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together…Hebrews 10:24-25

God built us to help each other…

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

God built us to love each other…

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this,  that someone lay down his life for his friends.  John 15:12-13

God built us for community with each other…

Just as He built us not to be alone, but to live in community with each other, he built us to live in community with Him.

He built us to need Him and love Him…

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ Luke 10:27

He built us to love Him as much as He loves us…

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

And He promises He will never leave us alone,,,

“Never will I leave you;
    never will I forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5