I have loved and followed the amazing sport of Hockey since I was 11 years old. My reasons for loving this sport have grown over the years. I want to share one of those reasons with you today. One of the reasons I love this sport is that it truly is a team sport. Each player has to know the role they have trained for and their positions on the ice. When each player knows and performs their role, then the team begins to move together, overcome adversity and challenge, and even win games night after night. Rarely will you see an individual player on a team be the sole reason the team wins game after game. In short, you either succeed or fail as a team.
As a team, you have 20 different players all with unique skill sets, play styles, roles, skill levels, attitudes, career goals, and so much more. All of these unique attributes among the 20 different players should cause the team to grow and get better as they play together. I enjoy watching the veteran players teach the rookies, passing down what they have learned. The rookies with their speed, creativity, energy, and enthusiasm spur the veteran players on by challenging them to keep up. All of these players are faced with the challenge of setting themselves aside, with their wants and desires for each game, and putting their bodies on the line to do what is best for the team. When this all coalesces into a united team with clear goals and a desire to win, you can get some very exciting Hockey games.
When I see these principles at work in a sport I think to myself how we as God’s church are called to move together. I am reminded of Romans 12:4-8: “4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”
Just as each player on a team has different skills that the team needs to succeed, you as a follower of Christ have different gifts that are needed in order to accomplish the goals that Christ has set for the church. These gifts may result in provision, healing, clarity, freedom, discernment, direction, comfort, and much more for any person that we encounter as we try to achieve the goal of spreading the gospel. Each one of you is needed, gifted, and even called by God to help further His kingdom. We don’t have to do this alone because God is with us. In short, we can succeed as a team.
–George Oliver
Recent Comments