There are some things you will never learn on your own. You only learn them in community. To grow and develop your potential, you must learn from other people.
For instance, you can only learn forgiveness in relationships. You can’t learn that on your own. You can only learn loyalty in relationships. You can only learn love in relationships. You can’t learn kindness or faithfulness or graciousness or unselfishness without others.
In fact, the most important things you need to learn in life require that you be in relationship to other people. You can’t do it on your own. If you want to build your potential, you must learn from others.
Where is the best place to do that? In the family of God. In the Body of Christ. In the church.
Ephesians 4:16 says, “He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow” (NLT, second edition).
You need the people God has placed in your life. And they need you! God wired us to need each other and to learn from each other so that we become the man or woman God created us to be.
And that’s the memo.
By Rick Warren
