photo: CCO public domain

definition of team: a group that comes together to achieve a common goal.

It seems to me that we forget that we are on the same team…whether it comes to our nation, or in the church. We get focused on our differences instead of what unites us. It is a dangerous and often fatal flaw.

As a nation, if we see ourselves as many different entities who must be considered, with our special interests, we will become paralyzed. We need to see ourselves as one team! We have one nation made up of a diverse group of people. We always have been. That is what has made us great.

One difficult thing about being part of a team is that sometimes we have to do things we don’t like to do to make up for team members that are missing or injured. But we don’t complain or make life miserable for those around us because we are part of the team. We need to do our part to reach the goals we all have for our team!

We have all had to work hard, do our best, innovate, give to our churches and good charities, help those who are weaker than we are, but always remembering that we are all on the same team…working to build a better nation for the good of all. As long as we attack each other, pick at each other, fight, argue…we will not thrive.

That does not mean we ignore problems that need to be dealt with. We do. We are a team. We problem solve, we work together to face problems and we deal with them.

We don’t state them in ways that attack groups of people. We state the problems in ways that try to neutrally state the problem without attacking people. Doing that can be a challenge, but when we do it, we often get clues to the solutions.

What about applying this to churches?

The same goes for churches…my personal love! We often love our denomination or non-denomination. But the church universal…the true Church that only Jesus sees and knows, has much to teach us. There are members of the Church in almost every denomination or non-denomination.

Those of us who are part of the Church are on the same team. We have one goal: to glorify GOD and show Jesus to the world. There is much we can do to work together to bring that to be. If we remember we are on the same team, we can work together to bring that goal about. We don’t need to waste time attacking each other because of differences in styles of baptism or worship style.

For those of us on the same team, how can we glorify GOD together? How can we show Jesus to the world? We can minister together in mercy ministries as one…because we are on the same team in many ways.

Unity is not a call to be alike, but rather a call to have a unified purpose in our diversity!

So instead of nit-picking, let’s look at those of us on the same team. Whether it is in our nation or in our churches where we love Jesus and see Him central to our message of Redemption, let us join together on those teams for the good of our nation or or the Kingdom of GOD. We might not normally choose the people GOD choose us to work with, but we learn more about working with diverse people and how to help the people around us who need help.

Just as the Olympic teammates encourage each other and enjoy the wins of each other, we can too. We don’t have to always be the one winning.

Conversely, we don’t all have to do everything the same. GOD calls us each to our own style. We don’t need to all be the same…even when on the same team. We just need to do what we are called to do…and do it well!

Blessings as you work on the team GOD has called you to in the way He has called you to do it!

For just as the body is one and has many members,
and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body
—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—
and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 
If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,”
that would not make it any less a part of the body. 
And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,”
that would not make it any less a part of the body. 
If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing?
If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 
But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 
If all were a single member, where would the body be? 
As it is, there are many parts,
yet one body.

I Corinthians 12:12-20