Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our Reading titled Together in Jesus was written by Karen Wong.

Most of the 300 residents of Whittier, Alaska, live in one big apartment complex, and that's why Whittier is called a town under one roof.

Amy, a former resident, says, I didn't have to step outside the building.

The grocery store, notary public, school, and post office were on our ground floor, just an elevator right away.

Because life there was so comfortable, I often wanted to keep to myself thinking I didn't need anyone, Amy shares.

But the residents are so warm. They look out for each other.

I learned that they need me, and I need them.

Like Amy, we may at times want to keep to ourselves and avoid community.

The latter seems less stressful.

But Scripture says that a believer in Jesus should have a healthy balance of solitude and fellowship with other believers. The Apostle Paul likens the body of believers to the human body.

Just as each body part has a distinct function, every believer has a distinct role.

Just as a body part can't exist alone,

a believer can't live the life of faith in isolation.

It's in the midst of community that we use our gifts

and grow to be like Jesus.

We need one another. Our togetherness is in Christ. With his help, as we look out

for each other, we can cultivate a deeper relationship with him and show others his love.

Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional Scripture reading is from Romans chapter 12, verses 1 through 5. Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

This is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed

by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what

God's will is, his good, pleasing, and perfect will. For by the grace given me, I say to every one of you,

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