You Are Not Alone
September 2023
You are not alone.
Jesus has to remind me of this truth often. He is with me. His Holy Spirit guides me. I am one member of his body - designed to do my part, not own the whole all alone. The body of Christ is a powerful network! Realizing these truths brings relief to my worries and peace to my heart. So why do I have to be reminded? Why do I forget?
Abram felt alone. He left his home. He had no children.
..the Lord spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, “Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great.” But Abram replied, “O Sovereign Lord, what good are all your blessings when I don’t even have a son? Since you’ve given me no children, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no descendants of my own, so one of my servants will be my heir.”
Then the Lord said to him, “No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own who will be your heir.” Then the Lord took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!”
Genesis 15:1-5
God made a covenant promise to Abram. He called him to something greater. Abram couldn’t imagine what God was going to do through him. God told him to look up at the beautiful stars in the sky - a beautiful picture of what that promise would look like fulfilled.
The stars in the sky are a beautiful illustration of God’s faithful provision to Abram and us. We are among those descendants that God promised to Abram. Stars are also a beautiful picture of a network. God created each one of us. As we reflect His glory, we light up. As we connect with one another, we are a part of something bigger - the fulfillment of God’s promise and His plan. God’s plan isn’t one star; it is an entire constellation that fills up the sky with too many shimmering lights to count.
Networks demonstrate the power of interdependence, but interdependence is hard. It takes work to engage with others, surrender my way of doing things, and work through complexities in communication and differences in our approaches. It is a deeply spiritual work to submit to the Holy Spirit and to one another. There is a spiritual battle that rages around us. My resistance to interdependence is not merely a difference of opinion in how work should be done. It is far more serious than that. When I operate under the false assumption that I can do it on my own, I am following my plan rather than God’s plan. When I believe the lie that my efforts will be more successful if I do things according to my own plan, I miss out on the abundant fruit that God wants to produce through us as we come together to fulfill His Great Commission.
Networks are not a man-made innovation. They are a God-given provision. None of us is adequate for the work on our own. It will take all of us working together, submitting to the Holy Spirit, and being willing to surrender our own preferences for the interests of others to see the Great Commission fulfilled.
Expect it to take work.
Expect crucial conversations.
Expect to work through cross-cultural misunderstandings.
Expect to need others.
Expect to be needed by others.
Expect to be changed.
… And expect God to do far more than you could ever ask or imagine as you engage in the beautifully diverse network of others in the body of Christ within our own organization and beyond to the body of Christ.
