I Don’t Need You

There are some really cool clouds in the sky tonight. Click the image for a bigger picture.

I’m thinking about one of the biggest battles men fight. It’s the Lone Ranger, the isolationist, the “I did it all by myself” battle.

Somehow we have been deceived into thinking it is some kind of virtue not to need other people. Many times it is the last resort to ask for help.

I talked with an old friend last week. He tried to kill himself last year. He now has over $300,000 in hospital bills. It took a lot of friends and doctors to put his life back together. People tried to help him before and helped him after.

Something bothered me about the conversation. He credited God with helping him and made it clear that he didn’t need a book or meeting to get well. It almost seemed that the unspoken thought was that he didn’t need other people to help him either.

I worry that he views himself as a self-made-man. I worry that he might not be as strong as he thinks. I worry that he is not surrounding himself with the people he needs.

Advice is another thing we need but many times resist. We know our way is best and that can keep us from consulting others. I’m trying to learn this lesson myself. I’m trying to make it a regular part of my life to let others know what I’m doing and thinking and to see what they think about it. I’m finding a wonderful strength in that.

What we find is that God built us to need other people. He doesn’t want us to fight alone or to take credit for doing it by ourselves. The Christian life is to be one of dependence on God and others. None of us have what we need to live alone. We are incomplete without the other members of the body.

I am proud to admit that I have friends who make my life much better than it would be without them.

Philip