3:313 – Choose To Work Together

#faithbites #faithjourney choose

Setting

If you know me, you know I’m an extrovert. I like people, I want to help people, and I want to see what we can do together. We are stronger together than apart. Last night, the presumed President-Elect, stated something to the effect of if we can choose to be enemies and not work together we can choose to be friends and work together. (I know I’m not as eloquent as he was).

This got me thinking. When are you most happy? For me, it’s when I see people “get it”. When they can do something new they couldn’t do before. I also love when I work with someone to accomplish something I couldn’t do on my own.

This falls in the category of not trying to be right above all. God built us all as parts of the Body of Christ and when we work together, we can do anything.

Yes, we can be hurt. Sure, we can feel that we don’t matter. At some point, we can’t try to be more wrong than someone else or say “they it it so we are going to do it”. And of course, I know this isn’t easy.

Imagine if we worked together to tackle the greatest challenges on this Earth. What could we do together with God in our corner?

Scripture

• Psalm 133:1 – A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
• Ephesians 4:16 – From whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
• 1 Corinthians 1:10 – I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.

Reflection

I’ve been told I’m naïve but I’m not naive enough to think that everything is going to be sunshine, puppy dogs, and unicorns. We have sin and when we have sin in our lives, it’s very hard to turn the other cheek and work fully with one another.

We know that God tells us he is happy when we dwell in unity. The body of Christ works best when all parts are working together. The key is how do we do it? How do we go from being hurt, angry, and upset, to working together in unity?

If you are asking me, my answer is “I don’t know”. I know have a magic wand, but what I do have is prayer. I try to turn it over to God and just let it go. I don’t know how we are going to move forward, but how wonderful and blessed it is when we have no divisions and are of the same mind.

Challenge

Today’s challenge is simple to start, hard to complete. How do we move forward? How do we make sure that we are in unity and working together? What can we do to push aside selfish aims, heal our wounds, and be a unified people of Christ? Ask and pray on this. Jesus will answer. We just need to be open to him.

Prayer

Father God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for forgiving us all of our sins. Lord, we ask that you heal our hearts. Remove our selfish aims and heal our personal wounds. Give us all a job and a role to play in your plan.

We know you have a plan and we want to be in it. We seek your guidance and your blessing on all of our endeavors. Help us to choose to work together rather than against one another.

Lord, we pray all of these things in your name, Amen.