Baseball is a team sport.
So are football, auto racing, and sailing.
It’s the people at our side, the shoulder-rubbers; and the support personnel backing us up that enable us to find success in whatever we endeavor to accomplish. The glory belongs to the team, and not to one person alone.
Posted on Facebook recently, a short video shows nine soldiers approaching a sheer twelve-foot wall. Their goal is to scale it, getting everyone over the top, with no equipment except each other. The first three face the toughest challenge, but the final man is the most amazing. All the others are over the top, and they form a chain, hanging down the wall. The last man runs at the wall, leaps, and they grab his hand, pulling him up and over. The team is completely over the wall in less than thirty seconds.
John 3:16 places Jesus securely on our team:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Counting ourselves as part of a team means we are all in. We give one hundred percent. If someone else is in need, we throw a hand out, regardless of the risk to ourselves.
The first part of John 13:38 asks if we have what it takes:
“Jesus answered, ‘Will you lay down your life for me?’ ”
In football, the quarterback barrels down the field, but it’s the men pummeling his opponents that allow him to do so. Auto racing? That car’s going nowhere without the team members who add the fuel and change the tires. A sailing team’s only as fast as the crew who hoist the sails.
Who’s on our Christ team? Let’s see, there’s the pastor, the deacons, the Sunday school teachers… And we can’t overlook the nursery workers, the custodians, the church secretary, and the youth prayer team. We’re all part. Without every one of us, there is no success in Christ. And just as with a baseball team, when we have a win, everyone gets credit, not just the guy who touches home base in the final run.
When we score a victory for Christ, let’s celebrate the whole team, from the nursery workers who teach the foundations of our beliefs, to the youths who live them out. From the people who maintain the church facilities, to the pastor behind the pulpit, we are one in Christ, forming a chain to pull the last man over the wall. No one is left behind, and everyone gets the credit.
An old Sunday school chorus says, “When we all pull together, how happy we’ll be.” Absolutely! That’s the way it should be.
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