We Need Each Other 5/5/2014

"Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.  For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.  Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone?  And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart." Eccl 4:9-12

Today it seems that all of life is about the individual.  It is all about what "I" think and how "I" express myself.  People are going to greater and greater lengths to distinguish themselves from others.  This neo-individualism manifests itself most tragically as selfishness.  We can become so consumed with satisfying ourselves that we begin to do so at the expense of others.  Adultery is an act of selfishness.  Murder is an act of selfishness.  Theft is an act of selfishness.  And getting behind the wheel of a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs is an act of selfishness.  The opposite of love is not hate, but selfishness.

Beloved, God's design for humanity is togetherness and selflessness.  It was God who looked down on Adam and decided that he should not be alone.  It was God who told Adam and Eve to populate the earth.  It was God who gathered to himself a people who would carry forth his message of reconciliation to himself and to one another to all peoples.  It was the Lord who said that we should love God with all of ourselves and similarly, love others as we love ourselves.  We have been taught that it is better to give to others than to receive from others and to prefer others over ourselves.

The fact is we need each other.  None of us were designed or destined to be alone.  We heard the good news of the Lord's love from someone who cared and as a result are called to share that same good news with someone else.  The benefit is that we all benefit.  If we would all strive to take care of others, we ourselves would be taken care of by others and we would cease to know need.  More so than ever we must bind ourselves together in the love of the Lord that we might live out his will for our lives and accomplish his good.

One,

Lee