Together, we have it all

One of the biggest pressures we may face is the pressure to "have it all together."  We can feel this pressure from all over the place -- it can come from the media, where we are exposed to beautiful and gorgeous celebrities, who seem to have no pain in their lives and are held up as what we should be like; it can come from well-intentioned people, who teach us to cover up and hide our faults, and at least look like we have it all together; it can even come from our places of worship, where we may especially feel like we need to look happy and satisfied with life.  After all, Jesus came to offer us "abundant life," so if our lives are anything less than abundant, we may feel like we are letting Jesus down!

There can be a lot of pressure to be The Total Package, all by ourselves.  We may feel like we're supposed to be smart, confident, attractive, humble, kind, strong, assertive, understanding, athletic, well-balanced, relaxed, non-anxious, careful, carefree, and on and on and on...

That's a lot to live up to.

But the truth of the matter is that none of us is The Total Package, all by ourselves.  None of us is complete.

We were never meant to be.

According to Genesis 2, when the first man was created, God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone."  The man needed a "helper."  The man needed help.  The man was not enough, all by himself.

The first person who was created needed another.

We all need others.

Greg Ogden, in his very helpful book, Unfinished Business: Returning the Ministry to the People of God, writes that, "We don't have it all together.  But together, we have it all." This is one of deep implications of the concept of the church as the body of Christ.  The church - all of us together - are the body of Christ. 

Each of us is a part.

We were never intended to be the total package, all on our own.  But all of us together are the total package.  Each person brings particular gifts to whatever community we are a part of.  We bring our gifts, but we do not bring all of the gifts that the community needs.  We need others.  Each of us needs the help of others.  Together, we have it all.