MAY. 7, 2025

Why can't we work together? (4)

"Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Eph 4:3 NIV

A lady told her friend, "My husband and I have a very happy marriage. There's nothing I wouldn't do for him, and there's nothing he wouldn't do for me. And that's the way we go through life-doing nothing for each other!" We smile, but that's not so funny when it's true.

That attitude paves the road to disaster in marriage, business, church, personal relationships, and everywhere else. Often people join a team for their own advantage— they want supporting players so they can receive all the accolades. But ultimately, that attitude not only hurts them, but it also hurts the people they work with and hinders the results they otherwise could have had.

President Woodrow Wilson asserted: "You are not here merely to make a living. You are here to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and to impoverish yourself if you forget the errand." Here is a true statement, if ever there was one: When you use people, exploit them, and take advantage of them, you inevitably fail in life. Is it easy to work with others and always get along? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. That's why Paul writes, "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." You have to work at it. When someone criticizes, offset it with a compliment. When someone complains, find something to be thankful for. When someone comes across as self-centered, remind them that the collective goal you're striving for is greater than any one individual.

Why can't we work together? You are here to enrich the world.

Share This Devotional

Send us a text

Support the show

Changing Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

Why can't we work together? (3).

"How good…..it is... to dwell together in unity!" Ps 133:1 NKJV

Reason three: temperament. Some people aren't naturally outgoing. When they face challenges, it never occurs to them to enlist other people's help in order to accomplish their goal.

• When you operate alone, you will achieve a certain amount of success, but when you cooperate with the right people, you will achieve things you never dreamed possible.
• When you do everything alone and never partner with others, you produce huge hurdles to your own potential.

Dr. Allan Fromme quipped, "People have been known to achieve more as a result of working with others than against them." That's certainly an understatement! Like Chuck Swindoll says: "Nobody is a whole team...We need each other. You need someone and someone needs you. Isolated islands we're not. To make this thing called life work, we gotta lean and support. And relate and respond. And give and take. And confess and forgive. And reach out and embrace and rely on [others]. Since none of us is a whole,

• independent,
• self-sufficient,
• super-capable,
• all-powerful hotshot, let's quit acting like we are.

Life's lonely enough without our playing that silly role. The game is over. Let's link up." If you desire to accomplish something big, you have to join with others. One is too small a number to greatly succeed. The Bible says, "Behold, how good and...pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!….For there the Lord commanded the blessing" (vv. 1, 3 NKJV). Did you get that? When we work together, God commands His blessing to be upon our efforts.

And without the blessing of God, there is no true and lasting success.

Why can't we work together? Let's link up.

Share This Devotional

Send us a text

Support the show

Changing Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!

Try. Try harder. Try longer.

"Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Gal 6:9 NKJV

One of the greatest predictors of success in any endeavor is persistence. It's not only how hard you try; it's how long you try. We tend to overestimate how much we can accomplish in the short term. And according to an American pastor and author, we also "underestimate how much we can accomplish over the long haul. Why? Because energy is exponential. The harder you work and the longer you work, the more it pays off.

In a study involving Japanese and American first graders, kids were given a difficult puzzle to solve while researchers measured how long they would try before giving up. On average, the American children lasted 9.47 minutes. The Japanese children lasted 13.93 minutes. That is a 47 percent difference. Want to guess who scores higher on standardized math tests?

Success in any endeavor is a by-product of trying harder and trying longer. There are no substitutes. There are no shortcuts. It doesn't matter whether it's athletics or academics, music, or math [or ministry]. Study after study has shown that it takes about ten years or ten thousand hours to become great at anything. You need to work hard and work long. In the words of Malcolm Gladwell, 'Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness! Are there any God ideas you've given up on? Any God-ordained passions that you have stopped fighting for? Any God-sized dreams gathering the dust of disobedience? Don't give up on them. You need to try. Then you need to try harder. And then you need to try longer."

Try. Try harder. Try longer. There are no shortcuts.

Share This Devotional

Send us a text

Support the show

Changing Lives | Building Strong Family | Impacting Our Community For Jesus Christ!