Teamwork

“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.” (2 Corinthians 6:14a NLT)

Have you ever felt alone? Not necessarily lonely, but alone, even amid a lot of people. Do you remember why you felt that way? Do you recall the context of your aloneness? I remember the barrenness of my soul after my divorce. Some literally avoided me, while others went through the politeness of a greeting, but it was cold and unsatisfying.

Do you remember the first hug you received after your divorce? I was leaving church and my Pastor asked how I was doing. It wasn’t an empty, void of compassion gesture, but a genuine invitation to be heard. I couldn’t speak but collapsed into his arms with involuntary sobs. I held on to him almost like a drowning man holds on to his life preserver. Those were moments that mattered to me, and I believe to him.

Sometimes, when life is good, we tend to forget the power of touch, the significance of being a part of another person’s life. One of the things I most look forward to and enjoy is holding my wife. Not a cursory hug, but holding her, feeling her breathing, knowing whatever the future holds, we’ll face it together. We’re not two individual persons, we’re one unit, we’re one team.

Whatever happens to one of us happens to both of us; whatever one experiences it’s felt by the other. To believe you can disrespect my wife and not disrespect me is to misunderstand the bonds of matrimony. Marriage isn’t simply two people living together and doing life, it’s two people functioning as one body. No one knows me better or understands me more fully than my wife.

Marriage is arguably the best picture of what it means to be a believer in Christ. To have the Holy Spirit abide in me is to know I’m never alone. I don’t walk alone, think alone, live alone, do life alone, act alone, serve alone. Being committed to Jesus is to be committed to His Body, the Church. To believe you can live for and serve the Lord alone is to misunderstand the concept of the Body.

Paul wrote in Romans 12:4-5: “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.” The Church on earth comprised of billions of people, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not, is one Body in Christ.

We may not all agree on every point of doctrine, but if we’re born again of the Spirit, we belong to each other, we’re one Body. We’re “Team Jesus” and as such should commit to carrying on the work of winning the world to Christ together. Every day I pray for each member of my spiritual family wherever they are in the world.

There are people I will never meet and even of those I have met, I may not be God’s choice to lead them to Him. God has given me, as a member of “Team Jesus,” a portion of lost people to whom He’s given me access. And the refreshing and encouraging part of that process is I’m confident there are those across our globe who pray for me and my mission as I pray for them and their mission – you and your mission!

Teamwork in marriage, business, sports, and other arenas of life may require individual tasks or assignments to support and forward the purposes of the whole team, just like it does in the Body of Christ. And to the extent we serve with no desire or expectation to receive praise or credit for the result, to that extent we magnify Jesus and celebrate the privilege of teamwork to His honor and fame.

Whoever you are and wherever you serve as a child of God, please know that I love you, appreciate you and pray for you every day!

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊