Before you even consider that question, it is important to know what you will be joining, and only then, to decide to join or not. Let us look at the WHAT. Many, if not all, of us know what the LIFE in LIFE Group (LG) stand for. You can find that information in our website www.fbc.com.my But to save you the trouble of logging in, then clicking on “CONNECT” to read about it, here is a brief summary.
L- loving. Jesus said in John 14:21 that whoever has His commands and keeps them is the one who loves Him. And He has commanded us in John 13:34 to love one another. Now, how can we do that if we don’t have anyone (beside family, of course) to love? Truly loving someone is easier said than done. It takes practice. Some people are easier to love than others but Jesus said we must love one another, the easy-to-love ones as well as the not-so-easy-to-love ones. It is only when you interact with some one long enough and frequently enough will you know which category he or she falls in. That is when we learn the true meaning of loving someone, the good along with the bad. The real blessing is as we learn to love sacrificially, we ourselves are loved. Love is a two-way street, you know.
I – instructing. The fact is there are parts of Scripture that are hard to understand for most of us. The Ethiopian eunuch had Philip, sent by the Holy Spirit, to explain Isaiah 53 to him. We are very blessed because we can study God’s word together in LGs where our leaders will help us understand the bible better. There are also many parts of the bible that are easy to understand but do we know how to apply them to our own lives in order to grow spiritually? A good example is when the angel Gabriel proclaimed to Mary that her child Jesus would be king, how many of us would ask is Jesus king in my life? The study leader in one LG posed this challenging question to those present. The real blessing is as we learn to apply His word in our lives, we start to live life to the full, as promised by Jesus in John 10:10
F- fellowshipping. Too many LG members say this is actually “fei low” (Cantonese for fat people) – shipping, mainly because food is always present at LG meetings. But the pandemic lock-down has proven we can actually have good fellowship without food. There is a Swedish saying that shared joy is a double joy and shared sorrow is half sorrow. Many LG members experience this as we learn more of each other as we interact over zoom, as both joyful and sorrowful events are shared. The real blessing is when we reach out to support those in need, to be there for them, we have so much joy.
E- evangelizing. The real blessing is we get to obey Jesus’ great commission by simply inviting non-believers to a LG event without having to worry what and how to share the gospel!
The question now is, to join or not to join a LG in 2021?