God is kind and compassionate, generous and always forgiving, patient and absolutely perfect love. As such, we should experience joy and peace in our encounter with Him. This joy is the distinctive feature that tells us whether we worship and serve God out of duty—or out of sheer genuine love.

Everything we do for God is the fruit of being loved by God. This makes our friendship with God authentic and genuine, not laborious and religiously punishing.

If you feel your relationship with God lacks depth and growth, don't feel condemned or guilty. It could actually be the Holy Spirit prompting you. Just acknowledge it—and start fresh every morning because God never changes His mind about you. Find other believers who are hungry for God too and get together to spur each other on.

Consider these words:

Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.

Hebrews 10:24-25, The Passion Translation

The writer of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us a good healthy church community involves encouraging and equipping each other for the works of service.

Have a sense of belonging and ownership in our church.

Most importantly, we ought to make every effort to come together and enjoy each other. Don't stay away from church over the smallest reason. Be resilient and faithful followers in these uncertain and stressful times, especially when we can experience a COVID lockdown at a moment notice. If we can't meet, try to stay connected with others. Ask how we can pray for them and ask how we can help.

Learn to contribute to each other's growth and well-being and challenge each other's thinking and build new understandings of God's grace and the gospel. Show love and acceptance to those who are new in our midst and show patience and compassion to those who are hurting and broken.

Contributing to community life is not optional. Doing community life well brings us back to God's original intent. God does not want us to be alone or afraid. God gives us the gift of community so that we may discover the beauty of each other's worth and creative giftedness, and in doing so, we get to experience health, wholeness and harmony.