Rather, we are part of the Body, each part serving its own unique role. This doesn’t absolve us of our individual responsibility, but suggests that we must work in concert to be effective.

The question then becomes less about how “I” can finish well, but rather how “we” can finish well, together, collectively as the Church.

How much has been left unaccomplished because of our propensity toward the reliance-on-self way of thinking, being selfish and self-centred, rather than working in community, in fellowship, co-labouring in God’s work together with other believers?

May I suggest, from a different perspective, that our culture pressures us to conform to the pattern of going-it-alone and reliance on self, rather than admitting our need for others, confessing our weakness and living in relationship to others? This cultural pressure is conforming us in ways that we might not easily recognize: how we treat the homeless, how we view personal wealth, how we relate to our neighbours (we might not even know their names), or how we damage the environment.

Individualism and self-centredness have both temporal and eternal impacts, I think.