Ecclesiastes 4:9-12—”Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, For he has no one to help him up. Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him. And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.”
In the cartoons, Tom and Jerry fought all the time. However, when one got in a mess, we always saw the other pitch in to help. Relationships on the whole are mostly described like this – love and hate.
According to the Bible we need to have believer friends because we can:
– work together with the same aim (to increase God’s kingdom on the earth) to get a reward in Heaven for two people than one [love]
– uphold each other to continue our work [love] and hold one another accountable [love the person and hate the sin]
– get help in times of trouble [love]
– have someone to correct our waywardness [love the person and hate the waywardness]
– have a support with one more person, and additional power in the support of two more makes a threefold unbreakable cord, if we have people attack us. [love]
Therefore, we need to build relationships. We ought to work together with others in unity. We must lift up fallen believers and be wise to correct them kindly. The most important requirement of us is to pray and intercede to God on behalf of others.
Thank you Father God for Your reminder through this scripture. Help us to keep our ego and temptations from flesh aside when we honor You with our work. Help us to live in unity with our fellow believers. Help us to be led to do Your work and in turn help others when they fall. We surrender ourselves to you, Lord. Use us and remind us of Your love when we go astray or when we forget to help others. Teach us to be like you, Jesus. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
