Differences

Differences

MY QUESTION for GOD

How can I use people’s differences to strengthen my team?

A MOMENT with GOD

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.

Proverbs 27:17

So it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Romans 12:5

Why did God make people so different? Because it is through each person’s uniqueness that we can work together to accomplish important and significant tasks. The Bible tells us that God made each of us with a unique set of abilities and gifts so that we can benefit the church and culture and advance his kingdom. When we use our unique abilities, we feel significant and worthwhile. God wants us to learn how to use our differences to work effectively with others. Teamwork is most effective when everyone’s differences complement each other and make the team better. The team will function like a well-oiled machine when everyone understands how their unique contribution is essential to the whole. The church should be the ultimate example of people with many differences coming together to work in harmony and accomplish great things. When a group of people come together to solve a problem, their differences are necessary to ensure that all angles are thought through, new ideas introduced, rough ideas sharpened, and a final solution agreed upon. The result is far better than what one individual could have done. Too often we let our differences cause confusion, conflict, and tension. We feel misunderstood. We feel like our ideas or contributions should be more important. One of your greatest challenges as a leader is to remember why God made people different and then focus on how their differences can work together. Don’t allow differences to set your team members against each other. Strive to use their differences to bring them together to accomplish more than you ever thought possible.

DIVINE PROMISE

HOW WONDERFUL AND PLEASANT IT IS WHEN BROTHERS LIVE TOGETHER IN HARMONY! FOR HARMONY IS AS PRECIOUS AS THE ANOINTING OIL. . . . HARMONY IS AS REFRESHING AS THE DEW. . . . AND THERE THE LORD HAS PRONOUNCED HIS BLESSING, EVEN LIFE EVERLASTING   Psalm 133:1-3