Have you ever depended one someone? Has someone you depended upon failed you? Has the church you attended ever failed to support you in your time of need? Has your spouse you depended upon ever failed you by failing to live up to God’s standards for a spouse by abusing you? Has your family ever failed to protect you when you needed protection? Have you ever felt like you could not depend upon God? What can we do when we have no one to depend upon?
The world warns us about becoming codependent. But is codependency and dependency really just a different word for the same thing. The answer is no they are different one is positive, dependency, and one is negative, codependency. Dependency: Both people can express their emotions and needs and find ways to make the relationship beneficial for both of them. Codependent: One person feels that their desires and needs are unimportant and will not express them.
I believe that God designed us to be dependent upon each other. There was only one time in the creation process in which God said it is not good. “Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit forhim.” (ESV) Genesis 2:18. As you can see God’s solution was to make a helper. So, from the beginning God’s plan was that men needed other men to depend upon. In this case God made a woman as a special helper.
But it is clear that God intended that man should live in communion with one another.
The Scriptures are filled with what I call the “one another” commands – as in “love one another” and “serve one another.” As I started to study the “one another” commands, I became more aware of how much I needed other believers in my life. These “one another” commands are vital to Christian life – to the abundant life about which Jesus taught.
The “one another” commands emphasize how the body of Christ is made up of individual parts, and when one part of the body of Christ is in crisis, all the body is affected. Each member of the Church is there to help lift up others and to be lifted up by others so we live in unity with each other, but we do this all for God’s glory. Each member of the Church is there to show each other how to demonstrate God’s love through action.
I have provided a list of many of these “one another” commands from the New Testament for your personal study. Each one has value for our daily lives. I try to practice these commands in my interaction with fellow believers, but I found that during trials, I desperately needed other believers to practice these with me.
- Mark 9:50 — be at peace with one another.
- John 13:34, 1 Peter 1:22, 1 Peter 4:8, 1 John 3:11, 1 John 3:23, John 15:12, John 15:17, 1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:11and 2 John 5 — love one another.
- Romans 12:10 — love one another and outdo one another in showing honor.
- Romans 12:16, Romans 15:5 — live in harmony with one another.
- Romans 14:13 — do not pass judgment on one another.
- Romans 15:7 — welcome one another.
- Romans 15:14 — instruct one another.
- Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20 and 2 Corinthians 13:12 — greet one another with a holy kiss.
- 1 Corinthians 6:7 — do not have lawsuits against one another.
- 1 Corinthians 11:33 — wait on one another.
- 1 Corinthians 12:25 — care for one another.
- 2 Corinthians 13:11 — comfort one another and agree with one another.
- Galatians 5:13 and 1 Peter 4:10 — serve one another.
- Galatians 5:15 — do not consume one another.
- Galatians 5:26 — do not provoke or envy one another.
- Galatians 6:2 — bear one another’s burdens.
- Colossians 3:13 — bearing with one another.
- Ephesians 4:32 — be kind to one another and forgive one another.
- Ephesians 5:19 — address one another with songs hymns and spiritual songs.
- Ephesians 5:21 — submit to one another.
- Colossians 3:16 — teach and admonish one another.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 — encourage one another.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11 — encourage one another and build one another up.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:15 — seek to do good to one another.
- Hebrews 3:13 — exhort one another.
- Hebrews 10:24 — stir up one another to love and good works.
- Hebrews 10:25 — meet with one another and encourage one another.
- James 4:11 — do not speak evil of one another.
- James 5:9 — do not grumble against one another.
- James 5:16 — confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.
- 1 Peter 4:9 — show hospitality to one another.
- 1 Peter 5:5 — clothe yourself with humility to one another.
- 1 John 1:7 — fellowship with one another.
I do not fully understand why God chose to use human interaction to enrich our lives, and I have yet to fully comprehend why my journey back to Him started at this place of fellowship. I expect that getting my arms around the value of fellowship will be a lifelong quest.
During the tough days Laura and I faced together, I found great solace and comfort in the friendship and love of other believers through a local church. It helped me gain an understanding of and accept Job’s view of the severe trial he experienced, a view that I have adopted for my own.
“Then his wife said to him, ‘Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.’ But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ In all this Job did not sin with his lips.” (ESV) Job 2:9-10.
It is clear to me that God intended us to depend upon each other to walk through our lives together not alone. When we function as a church family as God intended for us then we will never lack hope. We will not lack hope because there will always be someone there to show us where our hope truly comes from. In order to become part of this great family that depend upon each other you must first get to know Jesus the true source of hope does not abide in you. Learn how to get the hope you need. Learn how to know Jesus
If you have not read my previous blogs you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
