Some years ago at a certain County Fair, the organizers held a horse pulling contest. (Not a contest of pulling horses, you understand, but a contest of horses pulling.) The first place horse pulled 4500 pounds; the second place horse pulled 4000 pounds. The owners decided to see how much the two horses could pull together. To their amazement when hitched up together the horses pulled an astounding 12,000 pounds! Working separately the horses pulled a combined 8500 pounds; but working as a team, pulling together, they were able to increase that amount to 12,000 pounds. The lesson is obvious, isn't it: working alone we may be able to accomplish a lot, but working together we can do amazing things.
This is true in so many areas. How about the athletic arena? Teamwork is necessary to success in all team sports, i.e., baseball, basketball, football, etc. One of the most disgusting things I see on a football field is when a player flaunts himself before the spectators when he scores a touchdown or makes a great play as though he did it without the help of his teammates. Teamwork is also a key ingredient in the success of the church. Many churches have been crippled and even destroyed by division, which is nothing more than a loss of teamwork. Sometimes it takes years for them to recover; some never do. And how about marriage? Boy, if ever any relationship demanded pulling together, a real spirit of teamwork, it's marriage. When husbands and wives lose their desire to pull together toward common goals, the marriage is headed for certain disaster.
All Christians share a common goal - we all have our eyes set on heaven and finally entering that eternal rest. Now, we need all the help of every other Christian to achieve that objective, and the assistance of God, Christ and the Spirit, as well. When we make it, it won't be by our own effort alone, but because a lot of others pulled together with us. That's teamwork at its best!
Lonnie Ritchie