12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,13 SO THAT he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

This text contains a gigantic "so that." Concerning our becoming blameless in holiness before God, we MUST increase and abound in love for one another. Without exploring this more deeply, I can only conjecture on all the implications of this idea that Paul is sharing. But one thing is for sure: An indispensable element of our spiritual development is community!

Now the question is what is it about community that has a transformational affect on us. I would surmise that community (fellowship amongst believers in a local church) is transformational in that God deliberately uses our brothers and sisters to deeply encourage our faith. This begs the question of whether or not we are engaging friendships at a deep enough level.

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13