Sunday, August 29, 2021
Independence says, I can do it myself, interdependence says, I cannot do it alone; we need each other. The goal of interdependence in the church (and among churches) is to reflect the unity of the body of Christ in the midst of its diversity.
God has gifted different parts of the body, including different congregations with specific missions, to build up the whole. As the body functions in the way God intends, He uses it to draw alienated people of varied circumstances to the good news of Jesus Christ.
Interdependence is difficult to develop in a culture that insists on its own way and rights, but to minister reconciliation we must learn it. In interdependent living, we learn to appreciate the uniqueness of the other and to need what the other is bringing to the relationship. See this reciprocal quality as described in 2nd Corinthians 8:12-14, where one’s abundance supplies what the other lacks, leading to a mutual benefiting of each other as interdependence supplies different needs, balancing the whole.
“For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have. For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may supply their lack, that their abundance also may supply your lack – that there may be equality.”
To put it another way – we need each other far greater than we could ever conceive. Be blessed!
You are loved, Pastor Don
Cornerstone Worship Center 