Do you have team spirit ?

"Do not seek vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another." Galatians 5.26

When a football team is made up of very good players who do not know how to play together, when the individuals pass before the collective spirit, this team is likely to lose against a team that plays collectively.

"Do not play against your side, but work in a team spirit."

The church is a body, a team, and we are all called to serve, to perform various activities, keeping in mind that we are not competitive, but complementary. In the church, competition goes against God's plan because we are a team.

When we enter a competitive spirit, we play against our side. That is why it was said : "The greatest defeats of the church in past centuries have been more due to internal wars, power competitions, unhealthy competition, jealousy of the achievements of the past. others, oppositions of strong individualities, than devil's assaults."

If your service is based solely on the desire to show that you can or can do better than others, you are no longer in the team spirit.

One of the indicators that reveals whether or not you are in the team spirit is when you get into a systematic critique of the work of others. This is what the French playwright Destouches emphasized in these verses : "Criticism is easy and art is difficult, which is what produces this people of censors, and which narrows the talents of authors."

By paraphrasing Destouches we could say : "Activity is difficult when we are subjected to the many criticisms of others, this critical behavior hinders the momentum of those who would like to serve."

While Mary comes to offer her perfume to the Lord, some disciples criticize her work, her action. Jesus takes them back and points out that she has done a good deed (Matthew 26:10). This passage teaches us that what we ourselves think about the activities of others or what others think about our activity, does not matter much, which is important that Jesus thinks about it.

How often do the children of God criticize the work and actions of others instead of rejoicing and encouraging what others do. Do not play against your side, but work in a team spirit.

A prayer for this day

Lord, thank you for the work done by all those who serve you, I want to rejoice in their service and in my case I do not want to be discouraged by those who criticize my activity for you. Help me to always do better for the good of all.

Paul Calzada

Source (The Thought of the Day)