Designed for Connection
I gave my youngest grandson a Lego Millenium Star Wars set with hundreds of pieces in it for his birthday. My mind just about went “tilt” when I saw how complex it would be to put those pieces together to make sense of that photo on the box. But the next time I went to his home, he had it all put together. He was designed to be a connector!
A couple of days ago, I finished my work-out a little later than usual. I headed to the Mail Room to get yesterday’s mail, when several friends who are part of the Breakfast Club, stopped me to see what’s going on in my world. This group really isn’t a club, but those who enjoy connecting with each other in the early morning. Lots of world problems are solved there. Well, not world problems, but, trust me, they encourage and support each other – so their little worlds are better.
From that small group, I was encouraged by them and, hopefully, I encouraged them. And, BONUS, I heard the stories about their church’s beautiful ministries and missions outreaches, as well as heard about some places to go for an evening of good, clean entertainment.
I am reminded of the Apostle Paul’s words: “I want us to help each other with the faith we have. Your faith will help me, and my faith will help you.” (Romans 1:12)
If we’re a part of God’s family, and specifically, the church, we don’t have to go through life’s ups and downs on our own. A building is one of the most important pictures of the church in the Bible. In a building, all the connected parts hold each other together. They provide support.
There are many people where I live that prefer isolation and rarely come out unless it’s for their mail or a package delivery. Oh, how they miss out on beautiful relationships. We all have times in life when we will need people to help hold us together. If we’re not a part of God’s family during those times, we’ll easily fall apart.
The Bible says of Christ, “In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.” Ephesians 2:21-22)
Together, we form God’s temple, a building. A disconnected frame has no support and no stability. We need this stability. We weren’t meant to go through life disconnected.
Back to my grandson and his love for Legos – even at age 16. There’s only one purpose for Legos. They are designed to connect. If we connect Legos together, we can build all kinds of great things. But if we never connect them to each other, they’re just a pile of plastic—they’re worthless.
Guess what! We are God’s Legos! We were designed for connection. We were made to be in the “building” of God where we connect to one another.
Why does this matter if we are connected or not? Because the number one epidemic in our society today is loneliness. I recognize lonely people. They feel alone, and they feel disconnected. So, like never before, we need the church. We need people. We need people who will love and support us no matter what we’re going through. Yes, I am pushing THE CHURCH today. It is a great place for connection. I know. I attend and serve at two of them! I am connected. How about you?