My Friend's House

by Stephen Blandino

3. FREQUENCY

Acts 2:46-47a says, “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people” (NIV, emphasis added).

The early church didn’t let “options” get in their way. You could argue they had fewer options to choose from. That may be true, but they also had fewer conveniences. Today, options sound like this: “I’ll engage in community unless…

• A friend calls to go to dinner.
• My favorite sports team is playing.
• The weather’s nice so we should head to the lake.
• I have a busy workweek ahead.

In other words, we’ll engage in community if nothing better comes along. Everybody wants friends, but nobody wants frequency. Frequency means I might be inconvenienced. Frequency means I’m going to put a community mindset above an individualistic mindset. In our self-made culture, that kinda rubs us wrong. And yet, frequency increases intimacy in community.

[bctt tweet=”Everybody wants friends, but nobody wants frequency. Frequency increases intimacy in community”]

Intimacy means the relationship is more than a casual acquaintance…it’s a real friendship. You can’t experience that kind of relationship without frequency. It takes commitment. Hebrews 10:23-25 says, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (NLT, emphasis added).