“It is healthy to be dependent.” Sam Allberry

Allberry said the quotation above in a podcast discussion about how physical frailty is a reminder of our spiritual dependence. Needing others reflects how we need God.

We do need God. Culturally and naturally we may struggle with that truth, but as children of God we acknowledge it as truth (even if we show it less well some days than others). We need Him for our life, eternal and otherwise. We rely on Him for each breath and each action. We rely on Him for grace to get through each day, to love Him and our neighbor at all.

But even after we fully acknowledge and demonstrate our dependence on God and joy in trusting Him, there’s still the needing others bit. Really? Must we? Isn’t God more pleased when we take care of ourselves?

Personal responsibility does please God. At the same time, personal relationships please God. He is the One who designed humans to live a communal life (Gen. 2:18). He is the One who designed the church as a body of believers, growing and ministering together (Eph. 2:19-22; I Cor. 12). We are not islands. We need each other by divine design.

So, the next time we need help and don’t want to ask for it, let’s see it as an opportunity to be more healthy and live our divine calling as human beings in community.

Two are better than one,
    because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down,
    one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls
    and has no one to help them up.
Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.
    But how can one keep warm alone?
Though one may be overpowered,
    two can defend themselves.
A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecc. 4:9-12)