We romanticize Americans as being rugged individuals who pick-themselves-up-by-their-bootstraps. It may be romantic, until you can’t get yourself back up after a fall. You’ve seen the commercials for the necklace with a button to push to notify emergency services when you’ve fallen and can’t get up. My mom had one. It gave us kids a sense of peace knowing that she would be able to get help at any hour. Without this device, a friend’s story is all too common. Her husband was late returning from taking their dog for a walk. After searching his route, she found him alive, but lying helpless in a field, unable to get up. The dog’s leash had tripped him.
We all need others to lift us up. King Solomon observed, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!” (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10) Whether on the job or working around the house, our production and emotional well-being are better when we get help from someone else or, at least, know they are near.
There are times when everyone prefers to be alone, but it’s not good if we isolate too much. If you spend hours each day in front of a computer monitor, it’s even more important that you set times to interact with caring friends. Humans were not made to be alone. It’s no wonder that solitary confinement is considered as punishment. It also explains why more people are struggling with mental and emotional issues during the COVID stay-at-home orders.
Even the self-motivated Apostle Paul felt the need for friends. He left an opportunity to preach in order to go look for his friend, Titus. “Now when I went to Troas to preach the gospel of Christ and found that the Lord had opened a door for me, I still had no peace of mind, because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said good-by to them and went on to Macedonia.” (2 Corinthians 2:12–13)
Jesus is our example of how to lift people who have fallen. Some were physically too weak to stand on their own and He healed them. Some had fallen into a life of sin. Instead of shaming them He forgave them and gave them hope for freedom from the sins that weighed them down. With words of grace and a miraculous touch He helped them get back on their feet, in more ways than one.
Have you made some blunders in your past and fallen in life? Would you like to make changes but don’t know how? Instead of a button on your chest, you can reach God’s Help-line any time with a simple prayer. He not only wants to address your immediate concerns, but He offers you “eternal life,” which starts in this life and extends into Heaven in the next. God will hear your prayer 24/7. His lines are never closed or busy.
Jesus also cared about His followers and wanted to prevent them from falling once He was gone. Therefore, shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus promised to send His Holy Spirit to be their constant Companion. The Holy Spirit is with us 24/7, but some have wisely said that there are times we need “God with skin on,” meaning we also need people who lift us up with their actions and words.
Today, you can be “God with skin on” to someone and use your hands and words to lift them up.
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