The Value of Each Other
As much as the world around us tries to lure us into self-dependency, God created us for each other. For community. For a life that’s not alone.
The author of Proverbs said it like this:
“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.”
Proverbs 17:17 NIV
We’ll all face hard times—sometimes when we least expect it. But a friend’s genuine care can mean the world, a sibling’s unconditional love can’t be replaced, and a neighbor’s practical help is priceless.
We need each other more than we realize: emotionally, practically, and spiritually.
If you’ve found yourself in a busy season where you’ve unintentionally neglected your true friends or been too busy for your real family, now is the time to reprioritize.
If there’s unresolved conflict with a friend or family member, and it’s slowly deteriorating the relationship, now is the time to set aside your pride and choose to make things right.
If you’re silently struggling on your own, now is the moment to let someone in. Give them a call, send them a text, or show up on their doorstep. If you can’t be honest and vulnerable, it will be difficult to get help.
Not only do you need people, but those same people need you.
You have strengths, gifts, talents, and a personality that’s unique to you and beneficial to them—and vice versa. Why bury them in the ground, in the name of autonomy, when they can benefit others?
Sometimes we need to ask for help and sometimes we need to be the help.
Do you need help, or can you offer it? Could you use a hand, or do you have some extra time, money, advice, or expertise to give?
If you’re tempted to self-isolate, don’t forget: we were meant to live life together.
1 Corinthians 14:33 NKJV
For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
God is not the author of confusion: If there is confusion and disorder at a church meeting, it isn’t from God. God may do things we don’t understand, and things that seem strange or unpredictable to us, but there will not be a general atmosphere of confusion or weirdness.
i. Some, in justifying their strange and unbiblical practices at church meetings, have declared this spiritual principle: “God cannot reach the heart without offending the mind.” This is unscriptural nonsense. It results in the attitude that the more confused and crazy and weird it is, the more it must be from God. How different from the teaching of Paul here! - David Guzik
In my reading of scripture, this verse stuck with me as how God does not want chaos in the Church.
#verseoftheday #alwaysreadincontext