Saturday, March 10, 2012

A Threefold Cord

When I was very little, I watched a show on tv (I wish I could remember which one) that posed the question: "What is the wrong way to eat spaghetti?"  This was pretty much the theme of that episode, and, in the end, you get the answer.  The wrong way to eat spaghetti is alone.

While I think that there are certainly times to be alone in life, I believe that the bulk of life is meant to be shared with others.  Unfortunately, our society, in a sense, seems to be bent toward the opposite.  Individualism is held up as such a high ideal to the point that asking for help is seen as a sign of weakness.

The Bible has so many verses that uphold the idea that life is meant to be community, to catalog and provide a coherent discussion on all of them would be a much more extensive undertaking than I am prepared to do.  What I can do, however, is provide a few examples. 
And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
-Hebrews 10:24-25
Bear one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
-Galatians 6:2
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep warm; but how can one keep warm alone? And though one might prevail against another, two will withstand one. A threefold cord is not quickly broken. 
-Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
All of these verses talk about how we are meant to work together.  Let us take these verses to heart and not be afraid of provoking each other to love and good deeds, bearing each other's burdens, and picking those of us up who have fallen.

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