Belmont University - Freshmen First Forty DaysSample

Day 12 – Community

“Community is best when the individual’s intentions are pure.”

Fostering Christ-centered community is the topic of countless sermons, blog posts, books, you name it! Ideally, it is so simple. But, we always continue to somehow forget it... I always continue to somehow forget it. Every day so many things get in the way of our focus on the simplest of commands: papers, tests, Netflix, the sale at Urban Outfitters, the queso down at Chagos, and probably more school. Sometimes, it is so hard to remember the simple things when we our minds are always moving at 100 miles per hour.

But, scripture calls us to look beyond our own self, our desires, our feelings, our challenges and our Netflix subscription, and put some more effort into being a part of Christ-centered communities.

When I look at some of the most encouraging, loving and free communities of which I have been a part, it is amazing me to me how different the individuals were, how different their aspirations, their backgrounds and their personalities. It is amazing how different the roads we are all on now, since beginning our college careers. And when I look at how those environments functioned these things come to mind:

- Those communities were always honest. No one was concerned with how they “should” act. When Christ and others are an individual’s focus, hypocrisy is hard to come by.
- Those environments were aggressively encouraging. They were focused on helping each other towards a common goal or purpose. And, always pointing each other to Christ.
- They were sacrificial. Whether it was washing someone’s dish in the dorm if they were in a hurry and stressed out, or staying most of the night listening to a challenging day.
- And, lastly, like the quote, they were pure. Purity in community comes from each individual really desiring (not necessarily always succeeding) to live unselfishly.

It’s all right to have a bunch of things going on. College is a time of discovery, but we should not forget to be united, to be honest, to encourage, and to love others like Christ does.

Ashton Judy | Junior | Entrepreneurship