“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
In Genesis 2:18, after Adam was created, “The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.’” God created us to have relationships with Him and others. This brings to mind another principle. You can survive by yourself, but you will not thrive.
Roxanne Stone, editor in chief of Barna Group said, “If you live in a more churched area of the country, it’s more than likely you have a significant number of these disaffected Christians in your neighborhoods. They still love Jesus, still believe in Scripture and most of the tenets of their Christian faith. But they have lost faith in the church. While many people in this group may be suffering from church wounds, we also know from past research that Christians who do not attend church say it’s primarily not out of wounding, but because they can find God elsewhere or that church is not personally relevant to them.”
If anyone could have thrived by Himself, it was Jesus. He said He came to give life to the fullest (John 10:10). That abundant life was modeled for us in the context of relational commitment. He had a large group of 72, a small group of 12, an inner core of 3, and the one close disciple. He told His disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34). In order to live in obedience to Jesus’ new command and all the other “one anothers” found in the New Testament, relational commitment is a prerequisite.
I believe in these last days, the Holy Spirit is emphatically reminding us how much we need each other. You will not experience life at its best apart from your commitment to the body of a Christ as lived out in a local church. Individual believers need to have a mentor, an encourager, and a next-generation follower. If Jesus needed these relationships, how much more do we need those in order to be a thriver and not just a survivor!