God doesn’t do anything half-heartedly. When he created the world, he was intentional and thoughtful about every aspect and detail. In Genesis 2:18 he said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Enough said, right? It is not good for man to be alone, so he created Eve, a helper. He designed marriage for intimacy and procreation. But God didn’t leave relationships there. He created humans with a need to be in community to fully thrive. He created the idea of family associated by marriage and birth as well as the family of God. There’s no denying God sees this community as a gift—so important that he sent his Son to die for it. God never intended for us to do life on our own. Even Jesus was born into a family and given a mom and dad and brothers. Jesus had friends, not just followers.
Trillia Newbell is the author of Enjoy, Fear and Faith, and United. She is the director of community outreach for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Excerpted from Enjoy by Trillia J. Newbell Copyright © 2016 Trillia J. Newbell. Excerpted by permission of Multnomah, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
