Yup, mlg, I think that's the one. Also we have Proverbs 11:14 >
"Where there is no counsel, the people fall;
.But in the multitude of counselors there is safety."
And Paul says we need one another > 1 Corinthians 12:14-27, Romans 12:5, Ephesians 4:25. And >
"Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you
an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
but exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today,'
lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(Hebrews 3:12-13)
"Pursue peace with all people, and holiness,
without which no one will see the Lord:
looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God;
lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble,
and by this many become defiled;"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(Hebrews 12:14-15)
"Have salt in yourselves,
and have peace with one another."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .(Mark 9:49)
How much we need to be with each other > if we are *members* of each other, I think of how much the members of a human physical body need each other, and so depend on each other for their life of the lifeblood that flows between members of a body, with different things that flow from one needed member, like the liver, to other parts of the body. And the stomach does things so the whole body can have nutrition. Etc. Very dependent, but how God has designed the body and makes it work.
Like this, we in Jesus need each other for the flowing of the *love* blood of the Holy Spirit through us to each other. God has us as members of each other; and so we can not make it without one another . . . not because it so depends on us, but because of how God has it this way. But it only works this way in God's love with us submitting to You, LORD; and no other way can work. We are *members* of one another > this is *commitment* > God Himself is committed to making this work. So . . . watching out for ourselves, without learning how to love with other Christians > this can not ever work. This is part of the "medicine" we need . . . of dealing with the challenge of finding out how to love with each other > no other challenge can keep us alive spiritually
And so > it says
"the husband is head of the wife," in Ephesians 5:23. I think of how a head can not stay alive without its body; plus, a body can't make it without its head. There is such an intimate connection between a head and its body, of total dependence and trust. This is very committed, how God has made a man the head of his lady.
And *if* this is what this scripture really does mean, then no other way can work. We need each other this much, not because we are depending on humans, but because this is how God has this and He's so committed to our learning how to love, like this.
So, "therefore", I have deliberately mixed with a church, even though they showed not to be really right like I find in the Bible. I needed to be committed to learning to love and stay in love, no matter how others turned out (2 Corinthians 12:15, 1 Peter 3:13). But with trusting God for this, I now would say it has turned out that You have brought me together with ones who are my examples of how I need to do better in loving. So . . . how I saw them, at first . . . uh-uh
> where is that pie in the face emoticon when I need it?
Here it is >