Our Need for Each Other - The Crosswalk Devotional - September 24

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Our Need for Each Other  
By: Cindi McMenamin

Bible Reading:
“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!” - Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

King Solomon, whom Scripture calls the wisest man who ever lived, told us there is strength in numbers when we surround ourselves with at least one other believer. 

But it’s just so easy these days to shoot a text or respond to someone via email instead of actually being with one another. 

Life can get busy, and we can too easily find ourselves isolating from one another. We may not intend to do it, but when our to-do list screams at us to be more productive, the needs of our family become too insistent, and the internal cry of ours is to get away from everyone and get some rest, we can end up on an island, feeling isolated and alone.        

But linking up with other believers in the body of Christ, is not just an option. It’s essential for our survival. 

Intersecting Faith & Life: 

While I was in North Africa visiting my brother, we were on a walk through a rural park when he pointed out to me something I had never seen or noticed in the States. The caterpillars—dark grey and black in color—travel single file, one after another, linked so closely that they look like one long snake on the ground to any predator above them, like a bird or animal that might otherwise swoop down and eat a single caterpillar or two. 

“When they link up with one another, they are protected,” my brother pointed out. “That is their defense.”  I watched them closely. They weren’t independent, doing their own thing, and only coming together when they needed something to do or something to eat. They traveled this way. They walked this way. It was their lifestyle, their mode of operation. 

In Scripture, we are given more than thirty “one-another” commands, instructing us how to live with and relate to other believers. We are not to just link up when it’s time for a church potluck or an entertaining event. We are to live linked, travel that way, walk that way. It’s our defense. 

The enemy of your soul knows the potential of a like-minded believer to strengthen your faith. Therefore, he wants you to believe you’re fine on your own, you’re strong independently, and that no one really has time to hear of your struggles anyway. But God created us to be dependent on Him and interdependent on one another so He can be glorified in our celebrations as well as our sufferings. Satan wants nothing more than for you to detach from the train of believers and move increasingly further from the body of Christ, and to believe God’s church is no longer relevant to your life. 

But like the defenseless caterpillars, when you and I are alone, we are prey to the enemy. If he can get us alone in our thoughts, he can bring in shame about our past, doubt about our present, and fear about our future. He will also try to lure us toward destructive thoughts about ourselves and others. When people are alone, they get depressed. When people are alone, they damage their bodies. When people are alone, they take their lives. Those aren’t group activities. Satan strikes the believer when he or she is alone. 

King Solomon, who told us two are better than one, also wrote: “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment” (Proverbs 18:1).  In other words, by seeking our own desires, we are not considering the wisdom of others. In another translation, that verse reads: “Whoever pulls away from others to focus solely on his own desires disregards any sense of sound judgment” (The Voice). 

In Proverbs 6:6-8, Solomon instructs us to look at the ant and gain wisdom from her work ethic. We also ought to look to the caterpillars to gain wisdom from their survival skills. When we link up with one another, we’re less of a target to our enemy. We are protected as we are among each other and cooperating together. We are not renegades, off by ourselves, doing what is right in our own eyes. Once we separate and go our own way, we become fodder for the enemy.

God never intended for us to isolate ourselves. He created us for community with one another. Don’t try to go it alone, my friend. Link up with those who are on this journey with you. You need them for your spiritual and emotional survival, as much as they need you. 

Lord, thank You for the way you designed the North African caterpillars to operate in Your intended fashion for their survival. Help me to be wise and link up with those you have surrounded me with so I will stay strong in you and never walk alone. 

Further Reading:
Ecclesiastes 4:11-12
Philippians 2:1-3

For more on growing closer to God and others, see my books: The New Loneliness: Nurturing Meaningful Connections When You Feel Isolated, and The New Loneliness Devotional: 50 Days to a Closer Connection with God.

Photo Credit: Erika Giraud/Unsplash 

Cindi McMenamin is a national speaker, Bible teacher, and award-winning writer who helps women and couples strengthen their relationship with God and others. She is also a mother, a pastor’s wife who has been married 37 years, and the author of 19 books, including When Women Walk Alone (more than 160,000 copies sold), The New Loneliness: Nurturing Meaningful Connections When You Feel Isolated, and The New Loneliness Devotional: 50 Days to a Closer Connection with God.  For more on her speaking ministry, coaching services for writers, and books to strengthen your soul, marriage, and parenting, see her website: www.StrengthForTheSoul.com.

Check out fantastic resources on Faith, Family, and Fun at Crosswalk.com! 

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