READ: GALATIANS 6:1-10; EPHESIANS 4:11-16

Do you know what a symbiotic relationship is? It’s when two beings interact, live near each other, and have a relationship that benefits both of them. The animal kingdom is filled with these kinds of relationships.

The clown fish lives in an anemone, and it scares away the butterfly fish, one of the anemone’s enemies. The anemone has sting cells that will attack anything that tries to attack the clown fish. A crocodile gets its teeth cleaned by the Egyptian plover, a bird who gets its food from the crocodile’s teeth. A zebra hears if an enemy is coming and warns the ostrich, who can’t hear well. An ostrich sees if an enemy is coming and warns the nearsighted zebra. A shark lets a remora fish attach to it and ride along, allowing the fish to eat the shark’s leftover food. The remora fish also eats all the parasites that attack the shark, keeping it clean and healthy.

Did you know we can have symbiotic relationships with those around us? If we know Jesus, God has placed us in community with other Christians. Together, we are the church, the body of Christ. And while church can be messy and sometimes painful, we all need each other. God has given each of us different gifts and abilities, and He calls us to help each other in our walks with Jesus by reading His Word together, keeping each other accountable in our struggles against sin, praying for each other, encouraging each other through the good and bad times of life, and providing for each other’s practical needs. We’ll definitely fail to do this perfectly and make many wrong choices along the way, but in these moments we can rely on the grace of Jesus to bring hope and healing.

The reason we can show each other love is because Jesus “first loved us” (1 John 4:19) and, if we’ve put our trust in Jesus, His Holy Spirit lives in us. So we can work together to share Jesus’s love with each other—and with the rest of the world. • Melissa Yeagle

• Can you think of a time when a friend helped you in your walk with Jesus? What did they say or do? Consider taking a moment to thank God for this—and maybe thank the person too!

• What are some specific ways you could encourage fellow Christians in your life?

• If you want to dig deeper, read Romans 12:3-21; 1 Corinthians 12; James 2:15-16; 1 John 3:17-24.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 (NIV)