Everybody needs somebody

Sportswriter Rick Reilly gave rookie professional athletes this advice: “Stop thumping your chest. The line blocked, the quarterback threw you a perfect spiral while getting his head knocked off, and the good receiver drew the double coverage. Get over yourself!” During twenty-seven years coaching his ten-time national-champion UCLA basketball teams, Coach John Wooden reminded them, “It takes ten hands to score a basket.” His message lines up perfectly with Solomon’s counsel: “Two are better than one.” No one realizes his or her best potential on their own. God’s Word and life itself teach us that living is designed to be a team sport. In the very beginning, God established this principle: “It is not good for the man [or woman] to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18 NIV). Being the “lone ranger” was never God’s intention for us. Loneliness is a killer. Companionship is the elixir of life. In Ecclesiastes 4:1-12, Solomon talks about the value of human relationships in a challenging and difficult world. And teacher Philip De Courcy tells us that biblical wisdom embraces “a theology of we” and “rejects a theology of me” (see Philippians 2:4). To win in life, we need to commit ourselves to (1) resisting the “go-it-alone” spirit that often characterizes our culture, (2) cultivating meaningful relationships and learning to treasure our friends, (3) staying closely connected to the members of the body of Christ, (4) reaching out to the lonely and the fallen, and (5) going out of our way to demonstrate the nature of real friendship (see Proverbs 17:17; Hebrews 10:24-25; Luke 10:25-37; John 15:13). Blazing your own trail is a dead-end street. Life shared is life fully lived!