I Need You? I Don’t Know About That
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“Don’t think of yourself more highly than you should. Just as the human body has many parts so it is with the Body of Christ. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell? No part can ever say to another, I don’t need you.”
Adapted from Romans 12:3-5 & 1 Cor 12:12-21
It was a Sunday afternoon in late Summer. The kids were getting ready to head back to school. Temperatures were dipping down overnight. Fall programs were getting ready to start up at church again.
My husband and I were heading up the small group ministry. All our married life, we’ve enjoyed getting together with other believers. We’ve participated in couple’s groups for adults only and family groups with a bazillion kids having their own version of “fellowship” in the backyard or basement.
On the leadership team at the church we were currently attending, we were getting ready for the Small Group Leader Training for our fall launch that night.
Searching for what to share, the Lord brought a list of the “one another” verses written to the believers in the early church about our relationship to each other, across Bryan’s path. We were shocked. There were 52 of them! Randomly pulling Rick Warren’s book, Better Together, off the shelf, I was floored reading the chapters devoted to each one.
· Accept one another.
· Be devoted to one another.
· Care for one another.
· Forgive one another.
· Serve one another.
· Speak truth to one another.
· Encourage one another.
I was cooking along, “Amen’ing”, “Oohing” and “Ahhing” with warm, fuzzy feelings coursing through my veins when all of a sudden I flipped the page to this one, “You need one another”.
Hold on. Wait a minute. Need? As in, must have?
The Holy Spirit whispered, “You don’t believe that.”
Eeks! “Of course, I do! I’ve been in the church since 1981. I love the people of God. Love hospitality. Small groups. Bible Study.”
But, do you believe you need other believers?
Then, my honest answer, “No.”
The truth was I loved the church. I’d spent decades 100% involved. But when it was all said and done, no matter what other believers did or didn’t do, I was going to be just fine. I was going to seek God no matter who shared my path or didn’t. I had the Bible to learn about God, his plan, and truth. I knew how to hear his voice. I could go to God and get the answers I needed from Him alone. I would walk with Him all my life and accomplish the purposes he had for me, no matter who was or wasn’t by my side.
Suddenly, I realized what an individualistic faith I had been living.
I was a product of the good old USA with its Western individualistic mindset and heritage of cowboys, tough as nails, who needed nobody or nothin’ besides themselves to stake their claim. Not to mention the feminist movement that corrected a few of the wrongs in the mistreatment of women but also delivered an avalanche of erroneous teachings into women’s souls and spirits. Amidst the sexual revolution, as men were failing in their commitments to God and their families, women were primed to believe that they didn’t need anyone but themselves.
And then the scars. Scars from a family where a father succumbed to alcoholism, and brothers to drugs. You never knew what anyone else was going to do or choose. The only one you could trust was yourself. In the end, all you needed to do was make sure you would still be standing.
Then, the Spirit brought the image of Adam and Eve to my mind. The Lord created a world teeming with creatures and brought them one by one to Adam, yet he was still deficient. Adam had God himself. The Almighty I AM! The Everlasting Father, The Good Shepherd, and yet it wasn’t until the Lord brought him Eve, another human being, that he was finally complete.
It's the same with us.
God calls his people a Body. One an ear, one an eye, the other a hand, the other a foot and it occurred to me. All the years I had been walking with the Lord, I knew I was just one part of the Body and yet somehow, I believed I could be whole and have the life God had ordained for me whether I had the other parts or not. At that moment, I realized not only do I need the other body parts to be healthy and happy, but it’s impossible, not difficult, less likely, or improbable but IMPOSSIBLE for me to accomplish the purposes God has for my life, without the other parts.
I’m so thankful the Lord opened my eyes that day. The enemy had tricked me into believing I “didn’t need nobody”. Sometimes it seems easier to cruise along on your own. It’s hard to wait for others and scary to open yourself to getting hurt.
God wasn’t trying to thwart my life or put my well-being at risk but to make me and this life all he created it to be, by intertwining it with others.
I sat for a few minutes and repented of my pride that had made me see myself more highly than I should.
And from that day forward I have looked at others in the Body differently. Knowing I need them and they me, they’re not optional anymore but essential.
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How About You? How have you seen your relationship with others in the Body of Christ?
~ Lori