I don’t care how many times you get hurt or feel like giving up on humanity, life is better having a relationship with others. Perhaps you just need to think about the last relationship and figure out whether it was something that you missed. Just because you are “head over heels about someone, it does not mean that they are compelled to feel the same way about you.

In antiquity I really liked someone. I got goosebumps just thinking about her. Goosebumps occur when tiny muscles in our skin’s follicles, called arrector pili muscles, pull hair upright.  Caused especially from cold, fear, or a sudden feeling of excitement. One day, out of the blue, she said that she wanted to talk to me. I was so excited. She said, “You are a great guy, but I just don’t like you.” And walked away. Lesson 1.

There is a growing “rent-a-family industry in some Asian countries to meet the needs of lonely people, or those who do not want to take the trouble to make friendships for whatever reason. Professional actors have stepped in to play the roles of mother, father, sister, brother, wife, husband, or any relative needed. Some go so far as to hire actors to impersonate estranged relatives.

This trend reflects a basic truth: Humans are created for relationship. In the creation story found in Genesis, God looks at each thing He has made and sees that it’s “very good” But when God considers Adam, He says. “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Gen 2:18). The human needed another human.

The Bible does not hint about our need for connection, but tells us where to find relationships: among Jesus’s followers. That means you cannot be a Christian by yourself. Jesus, at His death, told His friend John to consider Christ’s mother as his own. And Paul instructed believers to treat others like parents and children (1 Timothy 5:1-2).

The psalmist tells us that part of God’s redemptive work in the world is to put “the lonely in families.” God settles the solitary in a home; He leads out the prisoners to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land (Psalm 68:6).

I used to think that I did not need anyone too. After experiencing being loved, I do not know what I would have done all these years if they had not been in my life. To have someone say that they have always loved you, is a great thing. To have someone say that there will always be a special place in their heart for you although you are not together, is icing on the cake.

The late great R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass said it best in the song “When Somebody Loves You Back.” It’s so good loving somebody and somebody loves you back. And that’s a fact. 1978