Did you know that there are some New Testaments commandments that we cannot obey unless we are connected with other people? No really, it’s true! We literally cannot obey God without others. That can be quite a hard concept for many of us to fully accept because relationships are messy. People are difficult, opening up and trusting gives us the option of being hurt or rejected and that is legitimately a really painful experience.

God created us for connection with him but also, seeing that it was “not good for the man to be alone” made us for one another. In the New Testament, we find Jesus, Paul and the other Apostles writing commands that we must do to “one another”. Here’s just a couple of examples:

“…Love one another…” (John 13:34)

“…Be patient, bearing with one another in love.” (Ephesians 4:2)

“…Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another…”(I Peter 5:5)

Any guesses about how many there are? There are 59 “one another”’s in the NT alone, commandments and encouragements that we cannot fulfil outside of community! If you’re following God in isolation, away from the family of the Church or godly friendships then it’s going to be very difficult to “serve one another”, “carry one another’s burdens” or “encourage one another”!

By the way, the hardest ‘one another’ to fulfil? Jesus in John 13:14 said that we should “wash one another’s feet.”! I’ll confess right now, I’m not very good at doing that one!