We’re All In This Together

If you don’t subscribe to Dr. Jim Denison’s newsletter, I courage you to do so.  You can go HERE to subscribe or HERE to read more articles.

Below is from his latest article:

“The redwood trees on America’s Pacific Coast [are some of the tallest in the world].  One is the tallest tree in the world at 379 feet, taller than the Statue of Liberty. Many redwoods exceed three hundred feet. Some are believed to be more than two thousand years old.

However, according to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, these gigantic trees have very shallow root systems. Their roots extend more than one hundred feet [outward] from the base, intertwining with the roots of other redwoods. It is their interconnectedness that is the secret to their stability and strength.

This phenomenon is a parable for us today.

You and I live in an existentialist culture that focuses on the one to the exclusion of the many. We celebrate the self-made, self-reliant person. We wear headphones when we go out, stare at our cell phones in elevators, and cocoon from our neighbors into houses without porches.

But if you take a coal from the fire, the coal goes out.

One of the most radical and life-giving dimensions of Christianity is its emphasis on solidarity. The church in the New Testament is collective—a vine with many branches (John 15:5), a body with many members (1 Corinthians 12:27). Heaven is comprised of “a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9).

God’s word calls us to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). Whose burden will you carry today? Who will carry yours?”