All by myself ... or not.

Everywhere I have gone this last two weeks I have been seeing and hearing things that remind me I can't do it by myself.  I couldn't seem to distill them into a story until my husband gave me an idea. If you need proof that God can use anything to teach us, read on!

All by myself…Or not.

Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

Cars come streaming into Pit Row. The colors and sounds are almost overwhelming and your eyes flit around. Then a strange thing catches your attention. A driver is climbing out of the window of his car. He runs to the back and puts fuel in. He runs to each tire and checks the pressure, adding some air in the front.  Then he races back and takes out the nozzle for the fuel. He quickly replaces the tear-off window screen and then puts on his helmet and climbs back in the window. What do you think the result of this escapade was? Not only is the driver behind, he is probably exhausted and now he can’t do his best. If only he had relied on his pit crew.

 No one would be that silly, right? At least no on the race track. How about in other parts of our lives? Do we isolate and refuse to use the team God has given us in life because of pride, shame or not wanting to bother someone? We may have different reasons. My favorite was always, “I won’t tell anyone what is going on (especially my mother) because I don’t want her to worry. That never worked with my mother and it probably doesn’t work with yours either. If my children are reading this it does not work with me.  Maybe we just don’t want to admit that we were wrong or that we don’t know. We would rather take care of it ourselves. If we rely on just one other person, such as a spouse or a friend, we can suck the life out of them. God has given us resources and people to help us. When we don’t we end up behind and exhausted. We can’t do our best for our families, our jobs or our ministry.

First Corinthians 12 describes very clearly the fact that we are a part of the body of Christ. He is the head and we are different parts of his body here. Try opening a door with just your pinky. ( I just tried.)  try walking 10 feet on your tiptoes. You can probably do it, but it is harder than it has to be. If you tried walking on your tiptoes I bet your calves are sore now.  It is the same way with our spiritual bodies.  We can do the work God has called us and equipped us for alone but we are not going to do it as well.  HE has given us other believers and he has given us his spirit.

One of my favorite verses  is in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he hath not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

This lesson has been hard for me to learn. If you want to see something interesting look up the one another verses in the bible. According to blue letter bible. There are 234. We are meant to live in community and to be part of a team or a body.  Don’t let pride or fear keep you running around the car any longer.