I Do It My Own Self (Friday Devotional)

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

- Romans 12:4-5

“I do it my own self!”

I’m hearing that exclamation a lot these days from my two-year old son. Tasks that I’ve been doing for him his entire life—putting his pants on, buckling his seatbelt, washing his dishes—are suddenly within his capabilities, and when we’re in a rush and I try to do them for him anyway, he doesn’t take kindly to it. Now that he has the skills he needs to take care of himself (in a few areas, anyway) he’s ready to exert some independence.

But if he’s anything like most of us, that refrain—"I do it my own self”—is one he’ll continue espousing into adulthood…even when he’d be better off accepting some help. Too many people go through life with a go-it-alone attitude, convinced that asking for help is a sign of weakness or incompetence. Wary of being judged by others, they value independence more than community, convinced that they can bear their own burdens.

Unfortunately, that attitude even penetrates the church, where it should be foreign territory. In the New Testament, the apostle Paul consistently describes the church as the body of Christ, with individual members performing different functions in service of the whole. The message in the metaphor is plain: while our individual roles are different, we are in this together.

When you are struggling, it is not your responsibility to ‘buck up’ or ‘deal with it,’ to shoulder your pain alone; you have brothers and sisters in Christ whom you can lean on. When you have cause to celebrate, there should be a cloud of witnesses to join in your triumph. In the kingdom of God, “I do it my own self” just doesn’t fly.

While the world often demands stoicism and rugged individualism, the gospel of Jesus Christ calls us to brotherhood and community. So if you are trying to go through life alone, attempting to “do it your own self,” remember this: you are but one member of a glorious body, and that body needs all the members working together.