Hold My Hand

The emphasis on individuality may do more harm than good.  The fear is that, if we do not maintain free-standing, our very personhood will be lost in the soup.  This idea applies to groups, as well as, individuals. Life and learning are great balancing acts, and we must learn to play those games as masters. To do less, is to leave the safety of the highway for the ditch.  Caution is in order because there’s a ditch on either side of the road. This being true, we can over-emphasize individuality as easily as the collective. In self-actualization, people are often not much satisfied, and the soup is not very good, either.

There was a time in the history of this country when people of all nationalities came to the New World to be Americans.  Now, I’m not naïve, but this is a pretty well-established truth. They bore the emblems of the countries from whence they came, but they were part of a new reality.  In some cases, they needed a new start. While there were problems and prejudices, it might surprise us how flexible they were in those days. Interracial marriage, for one, was not uncommon, especially in the west.  They had nothing to lose, everything to gain and bound themselves together for the common good.

People without options drop their biases.  The elite could (and did) keep theirs, but the leftovers and left-outs wanted something different.  They settled the new land because they had no place in the old. Such ideas and realities gave rise to the concept of America as a melting pot.  Now, however, America is less a melting pot than a bowl of marbles. Perhaps, to a degree, it was ever so, but people today are not involved in the lives of others and touch only at fine points.  Individuality is stressed to breaking as we find increasingly finer lines to distinguish ourselves from one another. Take one for the team? Are you kidding?

Individualism and isolation are not so far apart.  If we are strangers to each other, we should remember it is our choice. We may get to do things our way and call all the shots, but it will be lonely.

While extolling the virtues of the individual, the Bible says we are better together than apart. There is much about the group effort we might enjoy if we’d allow ourselves. There is comfort, strength, help and warmth in the collective.  The members have value, but the body has life. I have a part and place in the group, but I am not the group. Working with others in a worthy cause produces greater results than solitary endeavors.     

Christ-followers are unique pieces in a unified plan. We are to recognize our differences but realize our deployment.  There is a divine purpose that confirms the individual but celebrates the whole in Christ’s cause. There is a place for each.  

God joined believers in a network for their benefit and eternity’s cause.  You need the church, and the church needs you. It was not good for Adam to be alone, and it won’t be good for me, either.  I need you to be a part of my life, and there is something I can do for you. Many sincere believers misunderstand this point to their detriment. You will find, not forget, self in the community of faith.

We’ve nothing to lose. I’ve got a hand for you.

Sterl